The real economic impact of clean energy

dw.com · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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During a trip to Europe last week, the Donald Trump-appointed US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, called on the International Energy Agency (IEA) to pivot from clean energy to fossil fuels. At a meeting at the Paris headquarters of the intergovernmental body dedicated to global energy security, Wright referred to the "destructive illusion" of the IEA's commitment to massively reducing greenhouse gas emissions sourced from fossil fuels. The US, one of 45 member and associate countries of the IEA that represent 75% of the world's energy demand, is threatening to withdraw from the body if it does not quit its energy transition goals in the next year, the energy head said. Wright, the founder and former CEO of Liberty Energy, a US oil and gas fracking major, is outspoken on what he calls "climate alarmism." His energy department released a controversial climate report in July 2025 that downplayed the impact of rising temperatures linked to burning fossil fuels. In February 2025, President Trump, flanked by energy secretary Chris Wright (third left), signed an executive order aimed at accelerating fossil energy productionImage: Samuel Corum/Sipa USA/picture alliance Climate-fuelled extreme weather racked up $120 (€101) billion in damages in 2025 alone, according to one assessment. Yet the US energy head's report argued that CO2-induced warming was "less damaging economically than commonly believed." What Wright does believe, however, is that policies to transition away from fossil fuels have damaged both the US and EU economy. While in Europe, he told reporters that the clean energy transition, or what he called the "climate cult," has "reduced economic opportunities for Europeans." He has previously said that "climate alarmism" has reduced energy freedom and thereby prosperity and national security across Western Europe. Have renewables really hurt the EU economy? Sam Alvis, an associate director covering environment and energy security at the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research, rejects the idea that renewables uptake has hurt the European economy. Over 25% of energy in the bloc comes from clean sources. "It couldn't be further from the truth," he told DW. "Onshore solar and wind remain the cheapest form of energy available," he said of a region that has few domestic fossil fuel reserves. Proliferating solar panels today generate the cheapest energy in EuropeImage: R. Linke/blickwinkel/picture alliance Solar panel costs have dropped around 90% in a decade as Chinese manufacturing capacity explodes. A recent University of Surrey study confirmed that solar energy has become the cheapest global source of large-scale power generation, beating coal, gas and wind. Meanwhile, fossil fuel prices have fluctuated heavily. In the months following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia — Europe's biggest gas supplier at the time — electricity and gas prices in Europe hit record highs. European leaders have recently expressed concern about Europe's dependence on rising imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) from the US after it lost Russian supplies. They are also calling for more investment in domestic renewables.No security without energy security: EU Energy CommissionerTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "Forward-looking, globally-competitive economies will require ready access to an abundant supply of clean energy," said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director of the Climate and Energy Program at US nonprofit, the Union of Concerned Scientists. Calls by the US energy secretary to "lock-in more uptake of fossil fuels" is "actively undermining Europe's strong and strategic commitments to the clean energy transition," she told DW.Spanish energy is cheap and clean Meanwhile in Spain, the economy has benefited from a rapid shift to wind and solar energy. The southern European nation had the most expensive electricity in the EU in 2019. But a massive renewable energy uptake made power 75% cheaper by 2025, according to Ember, a global energy think tank. With green energy displacing coal and gas, the percentage of fossil fuels in the Spanish grid is half of Germany's, which is more gas-reliant. "Spain has broken the ruinous link between power prices and volatile fossil fuels, something its European neighbours are desperate to do," said Ember senior energy analyst, Chris Rosslowe, in a statement. Electrified economies run better Speaking at the IEA meeting, Chris Wright also claimed that "a lot of nations" had spoken privately about "wanting to become competitive again, wanting to re-industrialise their countries" by reviving fossil-based energy. But Sam Alvis counters that "electrified technologies are four times more efficient than burning fossil fuels." When transport or energy is electrified, it provides "an instant productivity boost," he adds. "The reduced economic opportunities in Europe have come from being too slow to recognise this," said Alvis in response to Wright's fossil fuel boosterism. The result is that "slow-moving fossil fuel-based companies" such as carmakers are being "leapfrogged" by more innovative technologies abroad — a prime example being China's dominant EV industry. For Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the London-based Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, the US energy chief's attempt to minimize the impact of burning fossil fuels and the economic efficacy of renewables boils down to "his administration's stated goal of American Energy Dominance." "[The government] is attempting to achieve this primarily through creating greater dependence around the world on supplies of fossil fuels from the United States," he told DW. "Domestic and international climate policy is obviously regarded as a major obstacle to this goal." Edited by: Tamsin Walker How this small German village got dirt-cheap energy pricesTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video