A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) has shown that in 2023, investment in solar energy will exceed the cost of oil production for the first time.
While this shows the scale and speed of the green transition, aggregate investment in fossil fuels is still too large to limit global warming to 1.5C, Bloomberg reports.
"Clean" technologies are displacing fossil fuels," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
According to the IEA, in 2023 a record over $1.7 trillion will be invested in various green energy technologies, i.e. will grow by 24%, and in fossil fuels – about $1 trillion (by 15%). Over the past decade, there has been a surge in investment in solar energy, and the cost of oil production has fallen.
It is noted that the increase in costs for green energy is due to the development of technologies, in particular SPP and electric vehicles. These industries are key to reducing dependence on oil, coal and natural gas, which are the main causes of carbon emissions and drivers of climate change.
The IEA said that despite these trends, the level of annual investment would need to double by 2030 to have a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C. After all, investment in fossil fuels has reached its highest level since before the pandemic.
The report emphasized that coal itself poses the greatest danger. Thus, in 2023, investments in its supply will grow by 10% and reach a new record. The vast majority of growth will come from China, where power shortages have forced the government to build new coal-fired power plants.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that a study by the Ember Climate Analysis Center showed that global carbon emissions from energy production peaked in 2022 and will begin to decline.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the annual report of the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA showed that in 2022 the global capacity of green energy increased by 9.6% (295 GW) and reached 3,372 GW.
