Tim’s view
On clean energy, the smart money at Davos is betting against the most powerful person here.
US President Donald Trump used a lengthy portion of his World Economic Forum speech on Wednesday to launch a familiar tirade against renewable energy, calling wind turbines “losers” that only appeal to “stupid people,” and complaining that “you’re supposed to make money with energy, not lose it.”
In general, the clean energy transition is largely absent from the agenda here. Yet in numerous conversations I had with energy-focused executives from major banks and private equity firms this week, they all agreed that the outlook for making money from renewables in the US and around the world is better than ever.
Counterintuitively, Trump is actually doing them a favor: When climate action was popular with the Davos elite a few years ago, there was a stampede of investment into renewables that drove frothy valuations for developers and steep reductions in power contract prices. Now the vibe has reversed, suppressing some of that froth. Meanwhile, skyrocketing power demand for data centers and other users, plus a renewed focus by fossil fuel importers on achieving energy security by producing more electricity from domestic renewables, are driving power prices way up.
The result is a disconnect between the message coming from the White House, and the opportunity that seems obvious on Wall Street. “We’re busier in renewables than we’ve been in the last 10 years,” Brandon Freiman, head of North American infrastructure at KKR, told me.
Notable
- The US Commerce Secretary threw shade at the EU’s renewable push during Davos, warning that China uses net zero goals to make allies “subservient” by controlling battery and critical mineral supply chains.