Former Vice President Al Gore was characteristically calm and forthright this week as he spoke to Bloomberg News about the global energy transition at a major gathering of world leaders.
What happened?
Each year, the World Economic Forum hosts world leaders, academics, scientists and business executives in Davos, Switzerland.
The event, simply called “Davos” by the media, opened on January 19, and its 2026 theme is “The Spirit of Dialogue.”
Financial news outlet Bloomberg has long covered the annual forum in Davos, setting up “Bloomberg House” in 2024 for in-depth discussions, such as a sit-down with the former vice president.
Al Gore has long been known for his ecological concerns, and 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of his book and subsequent film, An Inconvenient Truth. Both warned that inaction on environmental issues would be costly and deadly.
Gore, now chairman of sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management, has directly criticized the U.S. for its sharp departure from a clean energy transition.
Private equity chairman and Bloomberg personality David Rubinstein spoke with Gore and asked why ongoing wind farm projects in the U.S. are being halted, especially as energy prices soar.
Gore, a steadfast and dedicated foil to his charismatic running mate, former President Bill Clinton, has not been scathing about the inevitability of the transition to renewable energy.
He told Rubinstein that renewable energy was “taking over” globally, while the United States was canceling projects that were about to be completed.
“We really have no choice about it,” Gore said of the future of global energy. This sentiment echoed recent statements by Francisco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Why is this important?
Bloomberg reported in a Jan. 18 report on the eve of Davos that the World Economic Forum had agreed to “tone down” discussions on rising temperatures and other topics seen as irritating the federal government to ensure U.S. participation.
Yet as Davos convenes in Switzerland, political discussion in the United States is largely focused on the cost of basic energy necessities like heat and electricity.
Active lawmakers and candidates are often forced to discuss the issue in terms of current policy or voter anger, but Gore has no such constraints.
According to Bloomberg, Gore emphasized that solar and wind power are the “cheapest forms of electricity” today, an accurate statement that is also important because a large proportion of American households cannot afford utility bills.
Solar and wind power have also been widely proven to be built faster than nuclear power, another popular solution for reducing carbon pollution, and even though nuclear can sometimes be more straightforward to acquire land, the impact on neighboring towns, including emergency deals, is far more severe for nuclear than for renewable energy development.
In November, lawmakers issued an emergency appeal to utility providers as more households fell behind and faced outages and data center expansion continued to drive up costs.
What measures are being taken?
Gore’s assertion that the United States cannot opt out of the clean energy transition is supported by some recent news on this front.
In January, a district court judge ruled that the federal government’s cancellation of nearly $8 billion in clean energy projects was unlawful.
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