Milestone: Investment in clean energy is double that of fossil fuels. That's according to an article by VRTNWS. For the first time, the world is investing more in clean energy. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), $2,000 billion will be invested in renewable and low-carbon energy this year. This is an all-time record. Over the past five years, investment in clean energy has nearly doubled.
The money goes to a variety of energy sources and technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, nuclear power plants, energy storage. But also power grids, efficiency improvements, electric vehicles, low-carbon fuels and heat pumps.
Some highlights:
🔋 The price of solar panels has dropped 30% over the past 2 years and more than 70% over the past 10 years.
🔋 China, Europe and the U.S. lead global investment in renewable energy, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total.
Cheaper energy
Another IEA report shows that energy will also become increasingly cheaper. "The energy transition as a whole will lead to lower energy costs worldwide than today," it says. The IEA says in that report that in the future we might even start expressing the energy cost price in cents per kilowatt hour, instead of dollars per barrel." So concludes Thijs Van de Graaf (energy expert and professor of international politics at UGent) in VRT's article.
Work to be done
That investment in clean energy is double that of fossil fuels sounds encouraging. But IEA chief Fatih Birol stresses that current investments are not yet sufficient to meet climate goals. For example, more than $1,000 billion is still being invested in fossil fuels, particularly oil, gas and coal.
To become carbon neutral by 2050, the world must invest an additional $500 billion annually in renewable energy. Investment in fossil fuels must also drop dramatically.
It is clear that we are on the right track, but there is still work to be done. Want more info on how you can do your part? Feel free to contact us.
