John Doerr Issues Urgent Call to Build Clean Energy; Releases 2026 Speed & Scale Tracker

Legendary investor points to three forces reshaping the world's energy future

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Speed & Scale today released its 2026 Speed & Scale Tracker, alongside a letter from its founder, John Doerr, chair of Kleiner Perkins. The updated tracker offers the most definitive view to date of where the world stands in its energy transition.

The release comes at a moment of both real progress and rising urgency. As the war in Iran has exposed the fragility of dependence on oil and gas, the transition to clean energy is taking on momentum. Electric vehicles now account for one in four new car sales globally, while renewables are generating more electricity worldwide than coal. At the same time, however, global emissions continue to rise and the world remains far off track for net zero.

In his letter, Doerr outlines three forces coming together to reshape the global energy landscape:

1. The surging demand for electricity;
2. The growing geopolitical advantage of clean technology;
3. The disruptive market forces lowering the costs of clean energy.

"Three forces are converging for the first time—and they're presenting us with a better path forward," Doerr said. "Only clean energy delivers abundance that lasts. We must build clean energy to displace fossil fuels. The two go hand in hand."

The new tracker reflects these seismic shifts. It contains more sharply focused targets and best-in-class metrics to provide a clearer picture of where the transition is on track—and where it's falling short. Built on the proven goal-setting protocol of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), the tracker assesses the latest climate data across every sector of the economy and measures real-world progress in gigatons.

"Global emissions are still rising, but there are real bright spots—places where the clean transition is already delivering," said Ryan Panchadsaram, co-author of Speed & Scale. "Where progress has stalled or is going in reverse, the gaps should be read as signposts for decisionmakers to speed up investment and supercharge deployment."

Some key areas of focus:

• Progress is limited to just a few sectors.  Power and passenger transport are making strong advances. But in other areas, from protecting nature to decarbonizing heavy industry, the world continues to lag. To this point, there is no net-zero facility for primary steel and only one for cement. Thousands of both are needed.
• Electrification is at a tipping point. Electric vehicles are scaling rapidly, with the global fleet growing from just 1 million in 2015 to 56 million in 2024.
• The economics are shifting in clean energy's favor. Dramatic price drops in solar (75%), batteries (89%), and wind (55%) over the past 10 years are fueling record adoption. New technologies can thrive with the same playbook.

Read John Doerr's letter here and view the tracker on Speed & Scale's website here.

Speed & Scale is a global, trajectory-bending action plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions and preserve a livable planet for generations to come. The tracker gauges progress toward net zero and points to where action is most urgently needed. Its goal is to provide a clear and data-driven view of where the world stands today, and to help decisionmakers accelerate climate action.

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SOURCE Speed & Scale