Fossil fuels are taking a back seat to clean energy when it comes to global investment. The International Energy Agency says that some $2.8 trillion likely will be invested in energy this year with more than $1.7 trillion of it going to clean technologies including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps. The rest, around $1 trillion, is going to coal, gas and oil. Annual clean energy investment is expected to rise by 24% between 2021 and 2023, driven by renewables and electric vehicles. That compares with a 15% rise in fossil fuel investment over the same period, IEA said in its world energy investment report.

More than 90% of this increase is expected to come from advanced economies and China, presenting a “serious risk of new dividing lines in global energy if clean energy transitions don’t pick up elsewhere,” the report cautioned. “Clean energy is moving fast – faster than many people realize,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. He said that for every […]

Credit: NASA