ISLAMABAD: Bloom­berg Philan­thropies has announced a $285 million commitment to the renewable energy sector to scale up clean energy fast eno­ugh to power the world’s energy system and to provide technical assistance to help governments with the energy transition.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN chief’s special en­­voy on climate, announced the investment to stren­gthen national clean ener­­gy industries by building their institutional stren­g­­th, technical capacity, mar­­ket expertise, and an­­aly­ti­cal capabilities, acco­rding to a statement issued by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“Clean energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels in virtually every part of the world, and as a result, its share of global power production is growing,” said Mr Bloomberg, foun­der of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philan­­thro­pies. “But fixable obstacles are still slowing down deployment — and with energy demand rising at an un­­p­recedented speed, we can’t allow those obstacles to continue standing in the way of lower energy costs for households and businesses, and cleaner air and water for communities. This new investment will help ensure they don’t.”

By 2030, renewables and nuclear are projected to generate half of the world’s electricity.

State climate minister says renewable energy being held back by ‘market structures designed for a different era’

The statement noted that the investment aimed to create conducive conditions for the energy transition “to help close that gap by building on existing efforts in emerging markets and developing economies where demand is growing fastest”.

The statement also quo­ted Minister of State for Climate Change Dr She­zra Mansab Ali Khan Kha­­ral, who welcomed the initiative. “Across em­­erging economies, renewable en­­ergy is being held back not by economics but by market structures desig­ned for a different era. With this inv­estment, Bloom­b­erg Philanthropies is helping to close the gap bet­w­een clean energy potenti­al and what reality requires by tackling these systemic challenges head-on.”

The commitment, focused on countries responsible for nearly 70pc of global power sector emissions, aims to help solar and wind generate more than half of their electricity by 2030. It aims to strengthen clean energy industry associations and regional networks to better participate in energy planning, financing, and market design. It will also support technical research to demonstrate how clean energy can deliver reliable, affordable power at scale.

Energy expert Dr Khalid Waleed said the reference to “countries responsible for nearly 70pc of global power-sector emissions” appeared to be a collective portfolio-level framing, not a confirmation of country-specific allocations. Pakistan is not central to the 70pc global power-sector emissions arithmetic, but it is central to the developing-country transition challenge, said Dr Waleed, a research fellow at the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

“The country represents exactly the kind of system where clean energy can reduce costs and improve energy security, provided reforms move beyond generation capacity and address the deeper institutional and market constraints.” Pakistan’s power sector is already showing strong clean-energy mo­m­entum, particularly thr­ough distributed solar, but the institutional framework has not kept pace with the transition, he said, adding that this was precisely the area where countries like Pakistan needed support in early retirement of fossil fuel plants as bankable projects and the upcoming battery and storage revolution.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2026