Coal is political and environmentally untenable. Nuclear is politically unpalatable in many places, unaffordable, and following Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, an unacceptable security risk. The inflexibility of nuclear power station output also makes nuclear difficult to integrate with the variable demand of electric vehicles. I worry that many countries will sacrifice their climate goals to achieve security through a system that combines electrification of transport and coal-fired power. We do not have to do this.

Electrification with renewables will be the primary mode of the energy transition, and its weaknesses are causing the transition to stall. It’s time to discover dynamic harmonisation, the means by which we can optimally integrate multiple modes of energy and the work that it powers.

Hydrogen has a cornerstone role to play in the next round of the transition. The question is where hydrogen will outcompete other modes, like electricity and refined petroleum.

The world will need many more companies that manufacture wind turbines, deploy renewables at scale and manufacture EVs. But Vestas, Ørsted and Tesla have shown the way by identifying the problem and proving the technology and the business model. The next Tesla, whether a disruptive new entrant like Tesla itself or an established company that successfully reinvents itself like Ørsted, will need to do the same for the next problem in the energy transition.