Clean tech is already in full swing

[Newsweek, article by Jeff Young, interviewed Tom Steyer, Clean energy philanthropist, investor, political player, 7-8-24, “Billionaire Investor Tom Steyer Says Clean Tech Will Win the 'Climate War',” https://www.newsweek.com/billionaire-investor-tom-steyer-says-clean-tech-will-win-climate-war-1922347, 7-10-24, EP]

In a wide-ranging interview, Steyer talked about the climate stakes in the coming election and why he wrote a book about how clean energy is on the cusp of tremendous growth. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Newsweek: Your argument in the new book is that the clean economy is going to win out not just because it's clean, but because it offers the things that the title [Cheaper Faster Better] implies. Is that correct?

Steyer: I can go a little further than that, Jeff. It is winning out. If you look at where we are right now, it's not a question of if it's going to happen because it's cheaper, faster and better. It is absolutely happening, in the real world, right now.

If you look at last year, 2023, 86 percent of new electricity generation globally was renewable. And my point is, people aren't doing it to be nice. Everyone around the world is going to make self-interested decisions about what to buy, what kind of electricity to use, what kind of cars to drive, how to heat their houses. Every decision will be self-interested.

The products that are going to win are cheaper, faster and better, and that's what we're seeing. People don't understand that renewables are much cheaper than fossil fuels and that that advantage is growing dramatically every year.

If you look globally at where we're going in terms of cars, something that people seem very focused on, EV's are moving incredibly fast in terms of new car sales.

So, it's not that it's going to happen. It is happening right now.