There is no way to sugarcoat it - those countries with economies heavily tied to the fossil fuel industry will be at an economic disadvantage as the world transitions away (as it must) from the extraction, processing and burning of oil and gas. Lord Adair Turner, founding chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, said “we can now plan to decarbonize economies faster and cheaper than we dared think was possible in 2008.”
Interestingly Turner went on to say that many technologies that he thinks “are going to produce transformational change” around the world will also further decrease the already shrinking cost of renewable energy making it attractive even to low and middle income countries.
The concept of a just transition, where those currently working in fossil fuel industries are able to find equivalent jobs in their own communities, is one that will be important going forward in high income countries that are often at the forefront of renewable energy technology development while still being deeply invested in fossil fuels.