Creating Alliances for Renewable Energy Investment: Lessons from China and India

Abstract

‘Alliances’ of public and private actors can play a crucial role in accelerating the transition to sustainable energy systems, and these groupings can be ‘engineered’. Based on research findings from India and China this research concludes that achieving a global energy transition will be best served if countries forge alliances to support specialisation where they have a comparative advantage. Large emerging economies should create low-cost manufacturing industries based on growing domestic demand; smaller developing countries should create alliances to install the cheapest renewable power and develop off-grid production capacity; and alliances in developed countries should support research and development into new, low-cost renewable technologies.