President Donald Trump recently told United Nations delegates what many in the developing world already know: wind and solar are not strong enough to power the industrial growth needed to lift nations out of poverty. He warned that Europe must urgently address both uncontrolled immigration and the misguided energy policies that are fueling it.

Renewables are “not strong enough to fire up the plants that you need to make your country great,” the president declared. Europeans “must take control strongly and immediately of the unmitigated immigration disaster and the fake energy catastrophe before it's too late.”

Trump is right to link these two seemingly disconnected issues. By forcing green energy on developing countries, the U.N. and other international organizations are complicit in today’s migration disaster, as residents flee places prevented from moving towards Western standards f living and well-paying jobs.

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The U.N. could take a meaningful step by permanently disbanding its Net Zero Banking Alliance, which pressures financial institutions to stop lending for fossil-fuel projects in developing countries. Though currently paused, the Alliance’s climate guidance urges banks to set “credible, robust, impactful and ambitious targets” aligned with the Paris Agreement. In practice, this means prioritizing green energy over economic development.

The World Bank has followed suit, discouraging lending for fossil fuels and nuclear power while favoring renewables. But, this approach ignores a fundamental truth: poverty, not climate change, remains the greatest threat to humanity. That’s the conclusion of the U.S. Department of Energy’s latest climate report, yet unlikely to be embraced by the U.N.’s climate science review panels.

Restricting access to reliable energy keeps African and Latin American nations poor and drives migration to Europe and North America. If the West truly wants to reduce migration pressures, it should support, not block, energy infrastructure that enables economic growth.

The consequences of these lending bans are severe. Without financing for fossil-fuel power plants, transmission lines, or household electricity meters, emerging economies are literally left in the dark. China, meanwhile, steps in with loans and takes ports and other strategic assets as collateral. This energy embargo causes vast economic damage, traps nations in poverty, and pushes their citizens to seek opportunity elsewhere.

Consider the numbers: in 2020, 11 million Africans lived in Europe, 5 million in Asia, and 3 million in North America. That same year, 25 million Latin Americans lived in North America. These migration patterns are not random—they reflect the energy gap between rich and poor nations.

No country has achieved high per capita income with low energy use. The correlation is clear: more energy means more productivity, better healthcare, safer water, and higher agricultural yields. Countries with energy use below 500 kilowatt-hours per person typically have incomes around $1,000 per year. At 10,000 kWh, poverty begins to decline. At 100,000 kWh, it virtually disappears.

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High-energy-use nations enjoy better lives because they can afford doctors, clean water and pollution control. Meanwhile, natural disasters hit poor countries hardest—not because nature is crueler there, but because they lack the infrastructure to prepare and recover. Affordable energy is the great equalizer.

In 2018, Lesotho, Djibouti and Zimbabwe each consumed less than 4,000 kWh per capita and had incomes around $4,450. By contrast, Norway, the United States, and Iceland consumed over 80,000 kWh and had GDPs near $45,000. The difference is stark and instructive.

When poor countries are denied access to reliable energy, their citizens look abroad for opportunity. Illegal immigration imposes real costs on the West. The solution isn’t more border enforcement, but enabling real economic progress in Latin America and Africa.

If the U.N. wants to help countries grow and stem migration, it should stop romanticizing renewables and start supporting the energy sources that actually power prosperity.