by Liu Qiyu

BEIJING, Sept. 11 (China Economic Net) - For countries on the front lines of climate change, the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is increasingly being viewed not only as a way to cut emissions, but also as a development and energy-security issue.

"The transition to electric vehicles is first and foremost a development issue," said Sara Jane Ahmed, Managing Director and Finance Advisor to the V20 Ministers of Finance, in an exclusive interview with China Economic Net.

Ahmed is part of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20 Finance Ministers (CVF-V20), an international partnership of countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet. As a South-South intergovernmental cooperation platform, the CVF-V20 works to advance medium-term economic growth and development alongside long-term resilience and prosperity. It currently has 74 member countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific, representing 1.7 billion people, or 22.4% of the global population, while accounting for 3.83% of global GDP, equivalent to $4.1 trillion. Collectively, they contribute only 7.3% of global emissions while facing some of the most severe impacts of climate change.

For these countries, climate shocks are increasingly intertwined with economic and development pressures. Against this backdrop, Ahmed said EVs could offer an opportunity to address transport, energy and climate concerns at the same time.

One immediate consideration is the cost and volatility of imported fossil fuels. Ahmed said oil prices potentially reaching $100 per barrel would be "incredibly expensive" and would hurt people who could least afford higher costs. Expanding access to EVs, she said, should therefore go hand in hand with charging stations, transmission-grid upgrades and cheaper electricity from renewable sources.

"Because oil prices are high and the fact that there's so much volatility in fossil fuels and oil and gas, we need to find options that are stable," Ahmed said. "Electric vehicles powered by renewable energy is one such item."

For many climate-vulnerable countries, the energy-security argument is particularly relevant because most are net importers of oil and gas and lack significant domestic fossil-fuel resources. Ahmed said transport and logistics could instead be powered by domestically generated electricity from sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy, together with storage, potentially reducing dependence on imported fuels.

But building an EV market requires more than importing vehicles. Ahmed stressed that "the sequencing is very critical," with electric vehicles and charging infrastructure developing alongside each other so that demand and practical use cases can be established.

That transition could also open a path for climate-vulnerable countries to participate in EV manufacturing and supply chains. Rather than simply importing finished vehicles from major producers, countries with relevant natural resources and industrial potential could manufacture some components and work with Chinese companies through joint ventures and partnerships, she said.

"There could be great opportunity to diversify China's supply chain in climate vulnerable countries," Ahmed said.

For her, however, industrial localization cannot come at the expense of affordability. "At the end of the day, it's about price, it's about affordability, it's about whether this new piece of technology or equipment or infrastructure or vehicle improves lives and livelihoods of people," she said.

The EV transition, in this view, is therefore not simply a switch in vehicle technology. For climate-vulnerable countries, it could link a shift away from imported oil with the expansion of renewable power, while creating opportunities to build new industrial capacity.

"We're now seeing the convergence of development and climate, the convergence of energy and climate," Ahmed said. "We have the opportunity to deal with both at the same time and to ensure that we are benefiting both people and planets."