A recent article in Bloomberg, Clean Power Sees First Win Over Fossil Fuels in Emerging Markets, reported that developing countries (such as China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil) have "added more clean power capacity than fossil fuel generation for the first time ever".
Citing Bloomberg NEF's Climatescope study, the article shares that wind and solar generation accounted for more than half of new power in developing nations last year.
The study also found that, in developing countries, power generation from coal-fired plants went up by 4% last year and that 193 GW of coal are under construction (most in China, India, Indonesia and South Africa). Nevertheless, this milestone shows that the energy market in developing countries could continue shifting to a cleaner one.
I particularly appreciated this quote:
“Just a few years ago, some argued that less developed nations could not, or even should not, expand power generation with zero-carbon sources because these were too expensive,” Dario Traum, BNEF Climatescope project manager said in a statement. “Today, these countries are leading the charge when it comes to deployment, investment, policy innovation and cost reductions.”
