The annual United Nations climate summit, COPT 28, starts next Thursday in Dubai, amid abundant evidence that the world economy is undergoing an energy transition, from fossil to renewable fuels. The fact that the United Arab Emirates are hosting the conference was controversial, because it is the seventh largest world producer of oil, supplier of 4 percent of world oil output. But also, evidence of the transition is the fact that in the desert, outside of Abu Dhabi, is located the world’s fourth largest solar power plant, while in Dubai rises the highest skyscraper in the world.
Evidence of the transition can also be found in the fall of renewable prices. For instance, since 2009 until today, the cost of solar power generation has decreased almost 90 percent. Additionally, the cost of electric vehicles has also decreased, to the point where today in China gasoline-powered cars are more expensive than electric vehicles.
Finally, it used to be that wars in the Middle East pushed upwards the price of oil. Until now, by contrast, oil prices keep falling, from near $100 per barrel by the end of September, to around $75 per barrel this week.
