Vestas and wind lobby say trade wars hurt sector and climate
Trade conflicts and other obstacles could prove costly and lead to a serious setback for both the wind industry and the green energy transition, warn Vestas and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
During the last ten years, costs of onshore wind have dived 45 percent and turned the technology into one of the most competitive energy sources around. However, trade tariffs on crucial products and components could, in the worst case, lead to the sector's supply chain costs surging by up to 20 percent, with dramatic consequences and delaying the world's transition to renewable power, GWEC states in an appeal to global governments to reject imposing new trade borders and other restrictions impacting the wind industry.
"[Trade] wars and barriers do real damage to businesses by inflating prices. It makes a global supply chain less global, making renewables less competitive," writes Vestas Senior Vice President Morten Dyrholm in a statement from GWEC.
Players in the international wind sector are currently gathered in China at the Beijing Renewable Energy Investment Summit in cooperation with Chinese wind organizations and businesses.
The industry underscores that open international trade conditions will be completely decisive for whether the necessary large investments end up being made.
"It is vitally important for countries, governments, companies and communities to be working together to scale up the deployment of technologies like wind energy that we need to decarbonize," writes GWEC Chief Executive Ben Blackwell.
English Edit: Daniel Frank Christensen
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