Can the world run on green energy yet? Author Bjorn Lomborg argues that's very far off

Renewable energy technology like solar power, wind turbines, and battery storage have made exponential advances in the last decade. But is it enough to address the climate crisis?

On GZERO World, Danish author Bjorn Lomborg sits down with Ian Bremmer to discuss his controversial views on climate change and his belief that current climate technology is nowhere near where it needs to be to move to a net-zero world truly. He acknowledges the price of things like solar panels has gone down, but argues renewable tech is still being propped up by government subsidies.

Scaling up renewable energy technology, even in wealthy countries, is still a huge challenge.

Lomborg says that solar and wind power are intermittent energy sources that can’t provide enough power to keep most places running 24/7. And while prices have come down significantly from where they were a decade ago, the price of lithium-ion batteries needs to be 99% cheaper for them to be a real, practical solution for reliable energy storage.

“We are just far, far away from this actually being something that will scale even in rich countries, and certainly not in poor.”

Watch the full interview on GZERO World: Climate change: are we overreacting?

Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.