Editor's note: Qian Haoqi is an associate research fellow at the Center for Energy Economics and Strategy Studies, Fudan University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The 2026 Summer Davos in Dalian offers a quiet but revealing signal. Since May 1, the main venue has run entirely on green power, consuming an estimated 1 million kWh and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 530 tons from May to July. More than 80% of the forum's service fleet runs on new energy, including 16 hydrogen buses and 6 driverless shuttles. These are not ceremonial gestures. They are small experiments in a much larger transformation – one that is shifting the energy transition from a climate obligation into a new growth paradigm.

The question hovering over this year's Davos agenda is deceptively simple: Can the energy transition become a source of competitiveness? For much of the past decade, the answer was framed in costs – higher electricity bills, stranded assets, regulatory burdens. But that framing is quickly becoming obsolete. As the global economy turns more digital, more electrified and more exposed to geopolitical shocks, clean energy is no longer about saving the planet. It is about saving growth itself.

Clean power, fairer growth

The first way energy transition rewires growth is by making it more inclusive. China's experience with "complementary" renewable projects – solar panels over fish ponds, photovoltaic arrays on coastal tidal flats, rooftop systems on factory buildings – shows that green infrastructure can do more than generate electricity. It can generate local income. In many rural counties, revenues from these projects have been channeled into schools, clinics and village roads, directly supporting poverty alleviation. Unlike large coal or gas plants that concentrate benefits in cities, distributed renewables spread economic gains to places that were left behind.

The same logic applies at a larger scale. Over the past decade, China has built massive wind and solar bases in its western and inland provinces – Gansu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Qinghai and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. These were not traditional industrial heartlands. But renewable investment has turned them into energy exporters, bringing not only construction jobs but also stable tax revenues. More importantly, local communities now have cheaper, more reliable access to electricity, which helps attract light manufacturing and digital services. Energy abundance, once a privilege of coastal regions, is becoming a new asset for the interior. That is a structural shift in how growth is geographically distributed.

AI and renewables: A natural pairing

The second game-changer is the synergy between artificial intelligence and clean energy. In the old industrial model, production factors were tightly bound to location. Factories needed ports, railways and dense supply chains, so power plants had to be built nearby. However, AI changes that calculus. Data centers and computing power are becoming core inputs of the digital economy, and they are far less tied to geography than steel mills or assembly lines. They can be placed wherever energy is cheapest and cleanest. The International Energy Agency projects that global data-center electricity demand will more than double to 945 TWh by 2030 – a volume large enough to make AI infrastructure a major consumer of renewable power. If these facilities are co-located with solar and wind farms, they can consume electricity on-site, avoiding the high costs of long-distance transmission.

China's "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project, launched in 2022, embodies this logic. It established eight national computing hubs and 10 data center clusters, several of which are located in energy-rich western regions such as Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, and Ningxia. The idea is simple: Send data west, where green power is abundant, instead of sending electricity east. This model not only increases the utilization of renewable energy but also turns inland areas into nodes of the digital economy.

The lesson is also global. For countries with underdeveloped but sun-drenched or wind-swept regions, AI infrastructure can provide the demand anchor that makes clean-energy investment commercially viable. In that sense, AI and renewables can scale together – and rewrite the map of growth.

Energy security as strategic autonomy

The third dimension is energy security – and it is perhaps the most urgent. The Middle East remains volatile. Recent tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have once again reminded the world of the fragility of fossil-fuel supply chains. Japan, which relies on the Middle East for about 95% of its oil, felt this acutely when import costs surged, feeding into inflation, industrial margins and consumer confidence. Similar shocks followed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the damage to Qatar's LNG facilities earlier this year. When energy prices spike, the cost is not just paid at the pump – it ripples through every sector of the economy.

Renewables do not eliminate all risks. They depend on critical minerals, storage and grid upgrades. But they offer one decisive advantage: distribution. Wind and solar resources are far more evenly spread across the globe than oil and gas reserves. A country that invests in domestic renewable capacity buys itself strategic autonomy. It becomes less vulnerable to chokepoint closures, pipeline sabotage or cartel decisions. That autonomy is not just geopolitical – it is economic. Stable energy prices anchor long-term investment, while volatile fossil-fuel imports undermine business confidence. In a world of persistent uncertainty, energy security is a competitive edge.

The real question

None of this means the transition is easy. Grid flexibility, storage technologies and permitting processes all need major improvement. But the old debate – whether we can "afford" to go green – misses the point. The real question today is whether we can afford not to. Because the cost of inaction is not just a warmer planet; it is slower growth, deeper inequality and greater vulnerability to global shocks. The energy transition is no longer a burden to be managed. It is a lever to be pulled. The countries that pull it first will define the next decade of economic performance. As Dalian's green-powered halls remind us, the future is not somewhere we are going – it is already being wired, powered and built, one clean kilowatt at a time.

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