President Donald Trump has recently told representatives of the United Nations what many in the developing countries already know: wind and solar energy are not strong enough to provide industrial growth to get countries out of poverty. He warned that Europe urgently needs to tackle both uncontrolled immigration and the misled energy policy that it is feeding.
Renewable energy sources are “not strong enough to start the plants you need to make your country great,” the president explained. Europeans “must take control of the unmistakable immigration disaster and the fake energy -catastrophe before it’s too late.”
Trump is right to link these two seemingly disconnected issues. By forcing green energy to developing countries, the UN and other international organizations are complicit in the contemporary migration disaster, because residents flee for not preventing Western standards of living and well-paid jobs.
World leaders laugh, wriggling while Trump is shooting at the climate, Ukraine, Gaza at the general meeting
The UN could take a meaningful step by permanently dissolving its Net Zero Banking Alliance, which puts financial institutions under pressure to stop loans for fossil fuels projects in developing countries. Although it is currently paused, the climate guidance of the Alliance urges banks to bring “credible, robust, impactful and ambitious goals” into line with the Paris Agreement. In practice, this means that prioritizing green energy over economic development.
The World Bank has followed the example, so that the loans for fossil fuels and nuclear energy are discouraged and at the same time prefer renewable energy sources. But this approach ignores a fundamental truth: poverty, no climate change, remains the greatest threat to humanity. That is the conclusion of the latest climate report from the US Department of Energy, but it is unlikely that it will be embraced by the panels of the UN Climate Science Review.
Limiting access to reliable energy keeps African and Latin -American countries poor and stimulates migration to Europe and North America. If the West really wants to reduce migration pressure, this must support the energy infrastructure, not blocking that makes economic growth possible.
The consequences of these loan bans are serious. Without financing for fossil fuel plants, transmission lines or household electricity meters, emerging economies are literally left in the dark. In the meantime, China steps with loans and takes ports and other strategic assets as collateral. This energy -embargo causes enormous economic damage, stands out for lands in poverty and pushes their citizens to look for opportunities elsewhere.
Consider the number: in 2020, 11 million Africans lived in Europe, 5 million in Asia and 3 million in North America. In the same year, 25 million Latin -Americans lived in North America. These migration patterns are not random – they reflect the energy gap between rich and poor countries.
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No country has reached a high income per head of the population with little energy consumption. The correlation is clear: more energy means more productivity, better healthcare, safer water and higher agricultural yields. Countries with energy consumption under 500 kilowatt hours per person usually have an income of around $ 1,000 a year. With 10,000 kWh, poverty starts to fall. At 100,000 kWh it almost disappears.
High energy user countries enjoy a better life because they can pay doctors, clean water and pollution control. In the meantime, natural disasters with poor countries are getting the loudest – not because nature is cruel there, but because they miss the infrastructure to prepare and restore themselves. Affordable energy is the great equalizer.
In 2018, Lesotho, Djibouti and Zimbabwe each consumed less than 4,000 kWh per head of the population and had around $ 4,450. Norway, the United States and Iceland, on the other hand, consumed more than 80,000 kWh and had GDPs near $ 45,000. The difference is grim and educational.
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When poor countries are denied access to reliable energy, their citizens are looking abroad for opportunities. Illegal immigration imposes the real costs on the West. The solution is no longer border enforcement, but ensures real economic progress in Latin -America and Africa.
If the UN countries want to help grow and stem migration, it should stop romantizing renewable energy sources and start supporting energy sources that can actually come into effect.
