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Protect global supply chains for low-carbon technologies

The COVID-19 economic crash threatens the international trade networks that make clean energy cheap — abandoning them puts the climate at risk.
  1. Andreas Goldthau

    1. Andreas Goldthau is professor of public policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, and research group leader at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany.

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  2. Llewelyn Hughes

    1. Llewelyn Hughes is associate professor of public policy at the Australian National University, Canberra, and director of Energy & Environment at GR Group Asia.

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Employees work on photovoltaic solar panels at a factory in China

Solar panels being produced at a factory in Ningbo, China. Credit: Zhejiang Daily/Reuters

COVID-19’s effects have caused global supply chains to buckle and break. Of the many sectors affected, one is particularly worrying — low-carbon energy. Closed borders, silent factories and shortages of components are slowing the deployment of wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles worldwide, with little time left to avert dangerous climate change.

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Nature 585, 28-30 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02499-8

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