"We live in a new world of strategic competition between states over scarce but essential resources, with shocks to supplies from human activity and natural disasters an ever-present risk. This means recalibrating how we think about our economy: the new economic fundamentals today are resource constraints and climate and nature crises, and these, rather than human activity, will increasingly shape the world we inhabit. Flows of finance and stocks of wealth will matter less than stocks and flows of real material resources."
"After a decade and more in which electricity demand in the developed world was stagnant or even falling, the last few years have seen an extraordinary resurgence in rich-world electricity demand matching the continuing industrialisation and consumer booms of the fast-growing global south countries. The electrification of transport, and the datacentre build-out powering artificial intelligence, along with continued strong demand for industrial production, are all at the cutting edge of shaping what the International Energy Agency calls a new Age of Electricity."
Strategic competition over scarce critical minerals and resource constraints is reshaping the global economic order, replacing an era of mass abundance driven by unfettered free trade. Climate and nature crises, along with shocks from human activity and natural disasters, will increasingly determine economic fundamentals. Stocks and flows of real material resources will matter more than flows of finance and accumulated wealth. A key driver is a global surge in electricity demand fueled by electrification of transport, datacentre expansion for artificial intelligence, and industrial growth. Massive renewable investments, notably in China, are producing peak coal and a cleaner electricity trajectory.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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