Governments and industry bodies have committed billions of dollars to address the 'biggest bottleneck' in the clean-energy transition at COP30.
Parties highlighted the urgent need to revamp electricity grids and energy storage systems.
Key commitments include $148 billion annually from Utilities for Net Zero Alliance and substantial investments from development banks.
The 30th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) delivered one of the strongest signals yet on the urgent need to overhaul electricity grids and energy storage systems. On November 18, 2025, governments, development banks and industry announced billions in fresh commitments aimed at clearing what leaders repeatedly called the “biggest bottleneck” to the clean-energy transition.
A major financial signal came from the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance, which confirmed plans to spend $148 billion every year, opening up a $1 trillion pipeline for grid and storage expansion.
This was followed by substantial multilateral commitments: More than $12 billion from the Asian Development Bank, World Bank Group and ASEAN under the ASEAN Power Grid Financing Initiative; a new Power Transmission Acceleration Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean backed by €15 million from Germany via the Inter-American Development Bank Group; and a £33 billion fully funded five-year investment programme announced by UK utility SSE plc to modernise national electricity infrastructure.
Philanthropic organisations also stepped up. The Global Grids Catalyst, launched this year with an initial $50 million, said it would mobilise up to $7 million in 2026 to unlock larger investment flows, along with $2 million for an innovation incubation fund. Its executive director Anand R Gopal noted: “Climate philanthropy now recognises that grids are the biggest bottleneck to rapid emissions cuts… We welcome new countries joining the Grids and Storage Pledge, yet we are still not on track to meet the COP29 pledge, so we need faster implementation.”
Political momentum also strengthened behind the COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, with California Governor Gavin Newsom formally endorsing it, joined by five Brazilian states — Rio Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Ceara and Espirito Santo.
COP30 chief executive officer Ana Toni, along with the International Renewable Energy Agency and the governments of the UK and Germany, endorsed the Green Grids Initiative’s Climate Finance Principles, aimed at steering public and private capital into modernising transmission and distribution networks.
Brazil announced a new high-level Coordinating Council with the Green Grids Initiative to accelerate the expansion and resilience of its power grids, seen as essential to supporting the country’s rapid renewable energy growth.
The announcements were unveiled at a ministerial event hosted by the German Government and the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA), with senior officials from Germany, Azerbaijan, Australia, the UK, Korea and Brazil underscoring the scale of action needed to meet global climate goals.
Germany’s Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said: “Power grids and storage capacity is the key to the global energy transition. Without efficient grids, gigawatts of renewable energy remain unused.” He added that Germany would expand technical and financial support to help countries “massively scale up investments worldwide” and accelerate supply-chain development.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 president and ecology minister Mukhtar Babayev warned that slow progress on storage risks stalling climate momentum. “The energy transition cannot happen without proper energy grids and storage. Delays here are a bottleneck that is stifling the next wave of renewable energy,” he said, reiterating the COP29 pledge to increase global storage six times by 2030.
Despite the wave of announcements, GRA warned of a persistent gap in investment — especially in emerging markets. “A significant gap remains between what is needed and what is currently flowing,” said GRA chief executive Bruce Douglas. “We need further decisive action from governments and development banks to unlock finance and embed clear targets for grids and storage into national and regional strategies. Only then can we build the resilient, renewable-powered energy systems the world needs.”
With global demand for renewable electricity accelerating, COP30’s focus on grids and storage marked one of the summit’s most consequential developments — a clear acknowledgement that decarbonisation cannot advance without modernising the wires and batteries that hold the system together.