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Empirical evidence illustrates that among the 3 main electric vehicle (EV) jurisdictional centres of activity, China, Europe and North America, the China’s EV sector is light years ahead; the EU manufacturing sector is catching up; and North America automakers are falling way behind global EV developments. These contrasts are well-illustrated what follows by: leading in with what’s behind the Volkswagen metamorphosis; the leveraging of mid-level tariffs on Chinese EV imports to foster local manufacturing; the U.S. and Canada back peddling;...

Cleantech investments outpacing fossil fuels Trump invaded Venezuela to assert greater global dominance via subordination of the world's oil sector, and calls climate change a hoax. Not as well-known, there is a global green revolution is in progress. Two-thirds of the 2024 record of $3 trillion invested in energy sources was dedicated to cleantech such as renewables, electric vehicles (EVs), grid storage (batteries) and energy efficiency. Renewables progress to-date In 2024, renewables captured 92% of new global power capacity, adding 518 gigawatts (GW), a...

Mark Carney won the April 28, 2025, federal election, in part, because many Canadians believed he would be the best to face up to Trump.  Trump often refers to Canada as the 51st state. The irony is since then Carney has engaged in a plethora of initiatives to incrementally sleepwalk Canada towards Americanization of segments of the Canadian political energy and economic landscapes. Bill C-5: Fast-tracking projects of “national interest” One of Carney first legislative accomplishments was the hastily adopted Bill...

Nuclear cost and time overruns While nuclear power has gained interest as a low carbon solution, cost and time overruns have dampened this interest. A Boston University study of 400 nuclear plants over 80 years indicated that, on average, building nuclear plants cost double the before construction projections, and 64% exceeded their timelines.  Average costs go 120% over original budgets, with the majority more than doubling. High maintenance costs add to the unattractiveness of the nuclear option, in particular, the old reactors...

Electric vehicle (EV) imports from China will account for 25% of EV sales in Europe in 2024. Now China-based EV and battery firms are on the verge of coming to North America and there is no such thing as batteries without content from China.  This is the context for U.S. protectionist legislation. What follows is a most comprehensive plethora of reasons on why 1) protectionism won’t work and 2) North American and European EV manufactures are vulnerable to disruptive market threats...

Expectations for COP29 in Azerbaijan, based COP28 in the United Arab Emirates? The light getting in though the cracks is few countries are immune to competition with China’s sweeping expeditious green transition. China’s brisk energy transition intentions are three-fold, decarbonization of its economy, domination of global clean tech manufacturing and reduced dependence on imported fossil fuels. Renewables The COP28 final statement calls for a tripling of renewables capacity by 2030.  China had an objective to triple renewables capacity by 2030 too, but China...

New vison, clean tech acquisitions and fossil fuel divestments Under the leadership of Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden, 2014 to 2022, it really seemed that Shell was taking climate change seriously.  In 2017, Ben van Beurden purported that the “biggest challenge” for the company was to acquire public acceptance.  He asserted “If we are not careful, broader public support for the sector will wane.” Perhaps, the most astonishing component of the new orientation was the Ben van Beurden plan to divest...

The European Union (EU) target for an energy transition and energy independence is 2027.  EU just-in-time fossil fuel substitutes from countries other than Russia has got liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil exporters and importers euphoric.  These latter stakeholders are in for a big surprise.  The EU REPowerEU strategy resulted in gas-fired power demand peaking in 2023, with an overall gas consumption drop by 29% to 52% by 2030 or, at the very least, no LNG import growth.  Somber...

Many stakeholders from Ukraine, the European Union and around the globe, including just-in-time working groups, international financing institutions and the private sector, are currently engaged in "Made in Ukraine" green reconstruction agenda.  The challenges are colossal. Half of Ukraine’s power generation infrastructure has been destroyed or badly damaged.  It makes little sense to reconstruct a tangled web of centralized energy distribution networks.  Rather the emerging consensus among key players is for decentralized area-specific clean energy solutions that can be built...