The Green Transition in the Global South
From The Economist global newspaper, 8/23/2025 https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/08/21/the-green-transition-has-a-surprising-new-home
[…] Think again. For a wave of Chinese-made electric vehicles is flooding new markets. In the past year sales of EVs have more than tripled in Turkey, where Togg, a local brand, is also popular—they now account for 27% of all cars sold, making the country the fourth-largest European market. Last year more than 70% of cars imported into Nepal were electric. Some 60% of new cars sold in Ethiopia were battery-powered, after the state banned sales of internal-combustion-engine vehicles altogether. EV sales have doubled in Vietnam over the past year owing, in part, to VinFast, a local carmaker. Two- and three-wheelers are surging in popularity, too. The International Energy Agency (IEA), a forecaster, reckons that across developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America EV sales rose by 60% in 2024.
It is a similar story with renewables. In the first six months of the year, Pakistan generated 25% of its electricity from solar power—not far below the 32% managed by California, a clean-energy pioneer. The country’s battery imports are booming as well. Indeed, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a think-tank, estimates that on current trends battery storage will cover 26% of Pakistan’s peak-electricity demand by 2030. Meanwhile, over the past year Morocco has increased its wind generation by 50%, becoming the country with the ninth most. India has seen four months of decline in coal-power generation, aided by an increase of 14% in renewable generation.
Lust for Power
Although the principles of international climate diplomacy suggest that poorer countries, being less responsible for climate change, have less duty to go green, many face strong economic incentives to do so anyway. Most countries in the global south are energy importers, and therefore must use scarce foreign currency to buy oil and gas. China and India have coal reserves that play an important role in their economies and power generation, but neither has significant oil or gas reserves. For its part, Ethiopia’s ban on internal-combustion engines was not a green measure—it was designed to cut spending on fossil fuels and save foreign currency.
Moreover, across emerging markets, Chinese-made EVs are now about as cheap as traditional vehicles. In some places, they are even cheaper. The IEA reckons that last year the average Chinese EV sold for around $30,000 in Thailand, compared with $34,000 for the typical petrol-engine car. At the bottom end of the market, old-fashioned vehicles still have an advantage, but only a relatively modest one. Government policies have also made a difference. In Turkey purchasers of EVs typically paid a tax of only 10%, compared with one of between 45% and 220% for petrol-powered vehicles. The recent surge in part reflected car-buyers getting ahead of a reduction in the generosity of the policy. […]
Old fossil-fuel plants are becoming green-energy hubs
From The Economist global newspaper, 8/23/2025 https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/08/20/old-fossil-fuel-plants-are-becoming-green-energy-hubs
FOR MORE than a decade the Tamaya power station in the Atacama desert in northern Chile powered its local region using diesel. Today a shimmering array of solar panels stands in place of the dirty generator. Engie, the French utility that owns the power station, converted it into a solar-energy and battery-storage plant earlier this year. Juan Villavicencio, the company’s boss in Chile, describes the site as a place where “the past and future of energy infrastructure meet”.
Others share his vision. Developers, governments, startups and utilities around the world are turning former fossil-fuel power stations, and old oil and gas wells, into renewable-energy plants and testbeds for green technology. This way the relics of the fossil-fuel era will be put to good use. “It makes no sense to just throw [them] away,” says Arash Dahi Taleghani, an engineer at Pennsylvania State University. […]
[…] The sites offer connections to the grid, which can save developers looking to get renewable-energy projects online lengthy delays. Researchers led by Umed Paliwal at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that 1,000 gigawatts (GW) could be added to the American grid capacity if renewable-energy projects were hooked up to existing fossil-fuel plants and probably more if retired sites were exploited. According to the International Energy Agency, an official body, renewable-energy projects that could generate about 3,000 gigawatts (GW) worldwide are waiting for a grid connection. Repurposing could help resolve that issue. […]
Lost in Mist 