No Energy Transition Unless Tech Can Make It Cost Competitive: BlackRock

There will be no energy transition unless we can find new technologies that bring down the cost of renewables, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told Bloomberg’s Dani Burger on Friday at the Berlin Global Diague forum.

“We are not going to have a transition unless we can find technologies to bring down the competitive cost of renewables. We cannot do that.” Fink said, adding that BlackRock conducted a survey that showed 57% of their global investors are planning to put more money into decarbonization technologies.

“We saw what happened with elevated energy prices just two years in Germany and in Europe. You can’t have a transition.” Fink argued that when energy prices go up, emerging nations use more coal—because “life is more important than the future.”

“We need to reimagine finance,” Fink said, so finance can find ways of bringing billions and even trillions to emerging nations to help them decarbonize.

On the point that energy insecurity can be impossible for emerging nations to manage, other financial firms seem to agree. In late 2022, during Europe’s energy crisis, Europe’s energy security issues drove near energy poverty in the emerging world, Credit Suisse energy analyst Saul Kavonic said. While European countries and others may be able to pay a premium for energy, emerging nations cannot, and some already choose blackouts on a fairly regular basis because they can’t afford even today’s energy prices. And if they can afford some form of energy, it’s the lowest cost energy, such as coal, despite any green ambitions they might have.

Larry Fink oversees $10 trillion in assets for BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager. BlackRock was ridiculed by some late last year for calling on companies to invest through an environmental, social, and governance lens.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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