Thursday 25 May 2023

Solar outshines oil: Clean energy investment surges ahead

More than $1.7 trillion (£1.3tn) is expected to be directed towards clean technologies, including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low emission fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps.

That's according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Investment report, which estimated that approximately $2.8 trillion (£2.2tn) is projected to be invested in energy globally in 2023.

Led by solar power, low emissions electricity technologies are projected to account for nearly 90% of investments in power generation.

The experts note that around $1 trillion (£810bn), will be allocated to coal, gas and oil.

The report highlights that annual investment in clean energy is set to increase by 24% between 2021 and 2023, fueled by renewables and electric vehicles.

In comparison, fossil fuel investment is expected to rise by 15% during the same period.

However, it is worth noting that over 90% of this increase in clean energy investment comes from advanced economies and China, posing the risk of creating new divisions in global energy if clean energy transitions do not accelerate elsewhere, according to the IEA.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said: "For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy.

"Five years ago, this ratio was one-to-one. One shining example is investment in solar, which is set to overtake the amount of investment going into oil production for the first time."