Green energy drive ‘too advanced’ to be halted by Trump

THE founders of a major clean energy fund have shrugged off Donald Trump’s shift away from renewable power, claiming the global industry is too advanced to be halted by the US president.

Peter Dickson, technical director of Glennmont Partners, said the renewable energy sector was now driving itself after cutting loose from state-backed subsidies and attracting an influx of private investment.

Mr Trump has moved to break up Barack Obama’s environmental legacy by pulling America out of the 2015 Paris climate accord and backing carbon-intensive power sources such as fossil fuels.

Despite the US president’s crusade, Mr Dickson said institutional investors were wary of the risks surrounding coal and gas power stations and were more attracted to the falling cost of green energy.

Speaking to reporters Mr Dickson said investors are concerned that fossil fuel power projects could become “stranded assets” if the global push for decarbonisation sparks regulatory change. He said: “Despite things we hear from President Trump, the policy around renewables has almost gone beyond that point now.

“We are at that point where things are starting to become self-propelled and the incentives themselves are no longer coming from Government, but from the economies of scale and the value of the assets themselves.”