The road to a green energy future is looking more and more difficult — EnergyWatch

With headwinds ranging from rising interest rates and inflation to geopolitical tensions driving an increased focus on energy security, the path to a low-carbon future is now far more uncertain and costly than it was just a few years ago, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Offshore wind projects are being scrapped and the share prices of renewable energy companies are plummeting. In the US, automakers are scaling back plans for electric cars as demand slows, while the oil and gas industry is making mega deals made possible by soaring profits in the expectation that fossil fuels will be around for a long time to come.

Some of the companies hardest hit right now began extensive green projects before the pandemic, but the associated supply issues drove up the cost of materials, while interest rate hikes made financing the projects much more costly.

Many wind energy developers have experienced hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on US offshore wind projects this year, which has contributed to a plunge in the share prices of many renewable energy companies, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Danish Ørsted, for example, has seen massive write-downs on projects that have been canceled, and the company’s shares have halved in value since the beginning of the year.

However, the shift away from oil and gas is still ongoing. Solar and wind capacity is growing rapidly and governments are rolling out policies that support low-carbon technology, while billions of dollars are flowing into projects that can help support the transition to green energy, according to the newspaper.

But while the green energy sector faces a number of challenges, many fossil fuel companies are facing diminishing pressure to rush away from oil and gas, while companies and governments are finding the path to a green energy future more difficult than expected.