For governments gathered for the second week of COP30 in Brazil, 10 years on from the historic Paris Agreement – the view of the outside world from the negotiating halls is very different. The recent International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook report confirms that the clean energy transition is now a core driver of economic resilience. Clean electrification can the most efficient route to increasing affordability and better livelihoods. The shift is underway across many economies and is reshaping competitiveness.
In this context, the absence of senior United States officials at the UN climate conference has inevitably raised questions, but it has not translated into a loss of momentum. Sub-national leaders, major US companies and global firms with large US footprints have made their presence felt, and conversations on the ground have been centred on solutions, technology and innovation rather than political swings. The United States still shapes markets, capital flows and technology pathways, and its business engagement signals that the world’s largest economy understands the competitiveness, security and supply-chain stakes of the transition – even when domestic politics appear unsettled.
Whether you speak to business, investors, start-ups, or majors, minister and regulators, across geographies, there is an emerging consensus that the future is electric and that electricity will be clean. Even in countries like Argentina, with vast gas and renewable resources, companies are investing in both, for gas to be exported and renewables to be consumed in the country. China’s steady expansion of electrification – enabled by the expansion of renewables and grids – shows how quickly competitiveness can shift when transition planning is treated as core economic strategy. EV sales in China in 2024 grew by almost 40% year-on-year. In 2025, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles made up roughly 50–51% of new car sales in July according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. By comparison, EVs made up less than 10% of new sales in the US in the first half of 2025.
The clean energy transition is the overall shift away from fossil fuels; electrification is the practical way it happens, replacing combustion with electricity that can be decarbonized at source. Electrification is cheaper and more efficient. Electric motors, heat pumps and EVs use far less energy than fossil-fuel technologies, and when powered by low-cost renewables they deliver lower bills and far more stable operating costs.
Global spending on clean energy technologies is on course to exceed $2.2 trillion this year and the private sector is driving much of this progress. India-based food ordering and delivery platform Zomato doubled their fleet of EV riders to 27,884 in 2024 by supporting their drivers’ access to EV two-wheelers through financing solutions and connections to EV rental companies. Container logistics company Maersk has deployed more than 340 zero-emission vehicles, with reports that battery-electric truck drivers are complaining less about fatigue and are recording greater happiness overall. Both noise and air pollution are down at warehouses, distribution centers and ports, improving the health of workers.
Organon, a global pharmaceutical company focused on improving women’s health, is installing decentralized heat pumps to replace current fossil gas-based boilers. The water heat pumps provide 24/7 cooling and heating for the production process, resulting in significant energy savings. While Norwegian fishmeal company Pelagia installed a 4.5MW heat pump in their production plant to replace fossil steam with an electric high-temperature heat pump system that recycles water-sourced waste heat, reaching 70% efficiency gains.
In Pakistan a rooftop solar revolution is taking place, with thousands of households installing Chinese-made rooftop solar panels. In 2024, alone, panels able to deliver 17GW were imported, a level that will be surpassed this year. This has made them the second largest importer of solar panels in the world, adding as much capacity as their national power grid. It is a clear example on how rapidly clean electricity uptake can accelerate in just a few months, and how emerging economies are leapfrogging to a clean electricity systems.
Despite this real-world progress, policy remains a constraint. Grid congestion, slow permitting, high electricity prices and persistent national economy skews towards fossil fuels continue to slow momentum. Investment signals vary widely across markets, with clear frameworks in some jurisdictions and limited guidance in others. This uncertainty increases the cost of capital and restricts private investment where it is most needed, particularly in emerging markets.
In the opening days of COP30 Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a fossil-fuel roadmap that builds on the COP28 commitment of ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels’. Business has been calling for a well-managed shift to clean energy and welcomed the signal that governments are exploring a clearer pathway away from oil, gas and coal. A well-designed roadmap can strengthen planning and investment by building on the impetus already visible across the real economy.
Such a roadmap should realign incentives towards this transition, as reflected in a letter released ahead of COP30, where large business groups highlighted the measures that would unlock progress towards a faster clean energy transition. These included realigning financial incentives, ending inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and accelerating investment in electrification. It also highlighted the fact infrastructure upgrades, such as in grids and interconnectors, are not keeping pace with demand. Without reform to permitting and market design, and thought-through energy policy, the expansion of electrification will meet physical limits.
Ensuring fairness in the clean energy transition also remains essential to the success of united global efforts, an evenly distributed transition and maintaining public support. This requires targeted measures to manage transition costs, investment in skills and the provision of affordable mobility and heating options.
As COP30 moves into week two, with political principals arriving, it offers an opportunity to strengthen the broader enabling environment for the clean electrification transition. Clean electrification can reduce energy bills, make systems more efficient, lessen air pollution, and reduce exposure to global fossil-fuel-price volatility. We are witnessing the final act of the fossil fuel story, and the beginning of the clean electric era.
