“Energy transition” has been profoundly misunderstood
At COP29 there will be plenty of discussion about it. But the idea is more complex than many believe
Those attending COP29, the UN climate conference in Azerbaijan, from November 11th-22nd, can expect to get heartily sick of hearing the phrase “energy transition”. In a way, its ubiquity is welcome. There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when governments that thought about climate change at all felt there would be nothing they could do but adapt to its ill-effects. The belief that an energy transition can instead help bring the process to a halt has marked an important move away from such fatalism.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “You burn something new every day”
From the November 16th 2024 edition
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