Climate Action
Solar is Shining Bright in Pakistan
August 15, 2025
Thanks to the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” repealing renewable tax credits, switching to solar may become a little more expensive in the U.S. But this isn’t the case for people in many countries around the world who are increasingly leading the renewable energy movement.
Asia and Africa are solarizing faster than North America and Europe, despite lower GDPs per capita- meaning that the idea that solar starts in rich, western countries and the rest of the world follows is being flipped on its head. How are they doing it? And what can the rest of the world learn from them?
Pakistan is Solarizing To Keep Cool
As climate change heat waves in Pakistan are getting hotter and longer. Temperatures can climb past 100 degrees Fahrenheit regularly, this April reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit. People have to find a way to cool down, and thanks to cheap solar panels from China, solar is more accessible to the masses than ever before. This is why Pakistan is building solar power infrastructure, faster than other developing countries around the world.
China made 93% of the world’s polysilicon in 2023, the main material used in solar panels, allowing them to make solar panels faster than anyone else and then sell them cheapest. This surplus of cheap solar has made it more readily available, and with rising grid electricity costs, there has been no better time in Pakistan to make the switch to renewable energy. Not because it is better for the environment, but because it is the most economical choice to survive rising temperatures and costs. This means that unlike many other solar movements driven by subsidies and government incentives, Pakistan’s solar revolution is grassroots.
This [movement] is essentially people-led and market driven.
Mustafa Amjad, Renewables First
Grassroots = Unstoppable
The movement is not exclusive to urban areas, it is spreading all throughout Pakistan. Almost 50% of villages in lower Punjab and upper Sindh, the first and second most populous provinces in Pakistan, have solar.
Often this involves the community sharing their solar infrastructure – for example in one village, three different families share one solar system stored in a tractor. In another, people use the solar panels during the day, and the farmer who owns the panel takes it back to his house later in the day to use for himself. Community collaboration like this is why people-led solar has taken off in Pakistan.
While this rapid and far reaching solar development has helped the environment by reducing the burning of harmful fossil fuels, and makes electricity affordable, there are some issues that need to be addressed. By solarizing and moving away from the expensive power grid, prices for those who have not yet made the switch may rise. While this incentivizes switching, it punishes those who cannot afford to switch, and in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees fahrenheit, this is a serious safety issue.
This is why Amjad calls upon the Pakistani government to step in and regulate the market. “Now it’s more about flexible supply to meet flexible demand,” he says of the grid’s need to adapt to new energy needs.
Beyond Pakistan – Solar is Spreading
Beyond Pakistan, countries across Africa are making great strides in solar. Central and West Africa in particular are rapidly embracing solar, with Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria all getting in on the power of sunshine.
Uniquely, people with no access to grid electricity now have access to it for the first time via solar. Rather than replacing existing infrastructure, solar is the original infrastructure for many communities. Plus, many of the solar companies making it possible are locally owned and committed to serving their own communities, building energy infrastructure without paternalistic Western aid.
The Global Solar Council, a membership-based trade association representing over 97% of the world’s installed solar power capacity, published a report showing that the African solar sector is set to grow 42% in 2025 alone. Most impressively, Africa will more than double their current solar capacity by 2028. While the United States rolls back policies that support the growth of renewable energy domestically, Africa is becoming a solar trailblazer.
In Bangladesh, solar is being installed rapidly all over the country. By 2018, over 4 million solar systems had been installed, made possible by microfinancing from grassroots organizations.
Microfinancing is a practice most often utilized in developing countries that allows low income families, who may not otherwise have access to loans and other financial resources, to finance life-changing ventures, such as starting a business, or, in this case, installing solar panels. Here, again, we see that green practices and people-led development go hand in hand.
Keeping this shift to solar going means supporting local initiatives, and regulating energy companies, both grid and solar, to ensure that no one is priced out of the electricity they need.
We must pressure world leaders to invest in solar to support and uplift these movements, help us do this by signing the petition.
Local politicians also have a big role to play in uplifting the growth of renewable energy, especially here in the U.S where the industry is under attack. Please send a letter to your local U.S representatives to let them know they must back policies that push renewable energy and help bring all of our energy bills down!