Global energy transition to 100% renewables by 2050: Not fiction, but much needed impetus for developing economies to leapfrog into a sustainable future

This is a discussion and response to Global 100% energy transition by 2050: A fiction in developing economies? authored by Anthony Afful-Dadzie and published in Joule 5 (2021) 1634-1643. The preview has raised concerns around the feasibility of energy transitions towards 100% renewable energy and sustainable technologies in developing economies, after examining the article Bogdanov et al. (2021) in Afful-Dadzie (2021). Although, the author has rightly pointed out the disparity in the recent growth of renewable energy across the developed and developing countries of the world, along with highlighting a pertinent issue of 'availability of finance' for energy transitions across developing countries, the preview fails to contextualise the issue of financing energy transitions, in particular across developing countries, and has trivialised complex and cumbersome cost optimal energy transition modelling with vague and unscientific illustrations. In response, the authors of Bogdanov et al. (2021) have contextualised, clarified and confuted the issues raised in Afful-Dadzie (2021).(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This paper discusses and responds to the feasibility of achieving 100% renewable energy transition in developing economies. The author points out the disparity in renewable energy growth between developed and developing countries and emphasizes the importance of financing. However, the paper trivializes the financing issue and uses unscientific illustrations to describe complex energy transition models. In response, the authors of another paper contextualize, clarify, and refute the raised issues.