According to the American Clean Power Association, 93 percent of the new energy capacity added to the US power grid in 2024 — 49 gigawatts — came from low greenhouse gas emissions sources like wind, solar, and batteries. And the trends show no sign of stopping: the Energy Information Administration projects that just solar and battery power together will account for 81 percent of the new capacity added to the grid in 2025.

It’s not just the US; about 80 percent of the global increase in electricity generation in 2024 came from zero emissions sources like renewables and nuclear, even in developing countries and places that don’t have strong climate goals in place. Last year, Pakistan purchased 22 gigawatts of solar panels, almost half of what the US installed.

Countries, states, grid operators, and private companies aren’t exactly making these decisions out of a benevolent desire to save the Earth. They’re doing it because it’s often the fastest, most affordable route to more energy.

“These people were not climate fanatics or folks who are solving for climate change; they were solving for human needs in their homes,” said Jigar Shah, who led the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office under President Joe Biden — which by the end of 2024 had issued $69 billion in financing for clean energy projects. “Clean energy is the dominant way by which you actually add electricity to the grid today.”

But there are political, market, and technological forces that could slow this shift down drastically. We’re getting a picture of that in real time as President Donald Trump’s tariffs send the global economy on a roller coaster ride. The twists and turns are especially stomach-churning for clean energy. The supply chains for photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and lithium-ion cells stretch around the world. Tariffs will raise costs for the raw materials and finished components that go into new clean tech products, but the uncertainty — about which countries get what tariffs and whether they’ll stick — is making it hard to plan anything at all.

There are also some obstacles for clean energy that long predate Trump. New wind and solar projects still struggle to get local approval for projects, clear regulatory hurdles, and need better grid infrastructure to support them. Fossil fuel industries are also wising up to the competition from renewables and are investing and lobbying to stay in the game.

At the same time, the urgency for switching to clean energy is mounting as the world reaches new record-high average temperatures. Unconstrained burning of coal, oil, and natural gas will keep heating up the planet unless countries switch to sources that emit far fewer greenhouse gases. The rest of the world is continuing to invest in clean tech and if the US upholds its trade barriers, it will find itself on the sidelines of a major growth sector as other countries corner the global market on wind, solar,........

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