Opinion

Petro has his own government reeling

photo_camera Gustavo Petro

China is responsible for 30.65% of the world's highest greenhouse gas emissions and the country with the most investment and the greatest advances in clean energy in the world. Its President Xi Jinping, at the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Congress, said that China will "strengthen the clean and efficient use of coal" and that it aims to achieve an energy transition by 2060.  

In fact, he made it clear that China will not move away from fossil fuels until they are sure that clean energy can reliably replace fossil energy. The Chinese mandarin assured that "coal will be used more cleanly and efficiently, and we will accelerate the planning and development of new energy systems". 

In other words, the Chinese are not going to decarbonise their economy or sacrifice economic growth before 2060 and their energy transition plans are designed to be developed within 38 years.   

So, with such an announcement by the Chinese government that puts the brakes on the thesis of energy transitions from fossil to clean energy in the world, we should take careful note. And with the failure of the energy transition process in Germany, presidents such as Gustavo Petro of Colombia have no choice but to change course in their energy transition plans. 

President Petro and his government team must be more realistic and not seek to jeopardise Colombia's energy sovereignty and security. Four years is not enough time to develop a serious and responsible energy transition policy, especially in a country that is not a major or decisive player in the battles for world energy domination. However, Petro is determined to position himself as an international actor in the energy transition policy, but if he does not revise his position, he could turn Colombia from an oil and gas producer into an importer of oil and gas. 

It is clear that President Petro must send a message of reassurance to the energy markets by announcing that exploration will continue in order to ensure a good climate of governance and halt the devaluation of the Colombian peso. If he does not do so quickly, he will continue to shoot himself in the foot and start to shake his own government. 

The example of Germany is enough to show that an energy transition cannot be achieved in the short term. Nor does it suit President Petro to follow the same policies of the US government on climate change and clean energy when President Joe Biden's administration has the world embroiled in a serious economic crisis because of its energy war against Russia for supremacy in controlling the world's fossil energy markets and businesses. 

A war that has the world in economic recession and with the value of the dollar on the rise, which has devalued other currencies and strangled the rest of the economies. Meanwhile, the United States continues to use fracking, to sell more oil, more coal and more gas, and continues to line itself with greenbacks without giving a damn about the fate of the rest of the world. 

It is interesting to examine the imperial domination games that are cooked up and move behind the monopolies that are born with the processes of energy transitions and the clean energy generations: solar and wind, and the industries of electric cars and batteries based on lithium. As well as the silent wars that are developing behind the control of the world's lithium wealth. Likewise, it is worth analysing how behind the energy transitions to clean energy there are also the interests of the multinationals that control the business and raw materials markets, especially those of strategic minerals such as lithium and rare earths.

José E. Mosquera is a Colombian journalist and writer.