If the world shifts to renewables, we will make it much harder for poorer nations to develop. This will sentence their populations to decades more poverty.
Fact:
This argument is completely disingenuous, as many climate deniers are unconcerned about poverty in their own countries, let alone in developing ones. In fact, many developing nations have discovered that renewables are already cheaper than fossil fuels, and are adopting them at a faster rate than we are. The cost of renewables is actually much less for developing countries, as they don’t need to scrap existing fossil fuel plants. They can go straight to renewables as they develop.
Even so, it will be necessary to provide some funding to the poorest nations, to kickstart the transition. This was agreed to in Paris in 2015 and at COP27 in Egypt in 2022.