Former Vice President Al Gore was uncharacteristically quiet this week during a conversation with Bloomberg News about the global energy transition at a major gathering of world leaders.
what’s going on
Each year, the World Economic Forum hosts world leaders, academics, scientists and business executives in Davos, Switzerland.
That event – dubbed simply “Davos” in the media – began on January 19 with the theme “A Spirit of Dialogue” for 2026.
Financial news outlet Bloomberg has long covered the annual forum in Davos, establishing a “Bloomberg House” in 2024 for in-depth discussions, such as meetings with the former vice president.
Gore has long been known for his ecological focus, and 2026 marks 20 years since the release of Gore’s book and follow-up film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Both warned that inaction on environmental issues would be costly and deadly.
Gore now chairs the sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management, and he has been direct in his criticism of the United States’ rapid turn from the clean energy transition.
David Rubenstein, chairman of the private equity firm and Bloomberg personality, spoke with Gore and why wind farm projects in progress in the U.S. have stalled, especially amid rising energy prices.
Gore, a steady, dutiful foil to his charismatic running mate, former President Bill Clinton, pulled no punches about the inevitability of the transition to renewable energy.
He told Rubenstein that renewable energies are “coming to completion” globally while the US projects are nearing completion.
“We really have no choice about this,” Gore said of the global future of energy, a sentiment echoing a recent statement by International Renewable Energy Agency director-general Francesco La Camera.
Why is this important?
In a Jan. 18 report ahead of Davos, Bloomberg reported that the WEF had agreed to “downplay” discussions of rising temperatures and other topics the federal government deemed agitating in an effort to secure U.S. participation.
However, since the Davos meeting in Switzerland, the political debate in the US has focused on the cost of basic energy needs such as heat and electricity.
Activist lawmakers and candidates were often forced to discuss the issue through the lens of current policy or constituent outrage, whereas Gore had no such constraints.
According to Bloomberg, Gore emphasized that solar and wind were the “cheapest forms of electricity” today, an accurate statement that was also a result of the fact that a large portion of American households struggled to afford utilities.
Solar and wind are also widely confirmed to build faster than nuclear, another popular carbon-pollution-reducing solution—and if land acquisition can sometimes be more straightforward for nuclear, the impact on neighboring cities, including emergency protocols, is more severe for nuclear than for renewable development.
In November, lawmakers issued an urgent plea to utility providers as many households were left behind and faced shutdowns, and data center expansion continued to drive up costs.
What is happening for this?
Some recent news on that front reinforces Gore’s assertion that America cannot opt out of the clean energy transition.
In January, a district court judge ruled that the federal government acted illegally in canceling nearly $8 billion in clean energy projects.
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