The motive is twofold. For one, clear power prices have plummeted during the last decade — a decline that has additionally resulted in each greenback spent on wind and photo voltaic now going greater than twice as far by way of power output as a greenback went a decade in the past. Second, funding has additionally gotten a enhance from the rising variety of international locations which have adopted emissions reductions objectives lately.
Most clear power funding is at present flowing to photo voltaic initiatives; the power supply is projected to draw extra funding than all different energy technology sources mixed in 2024, together with fossil fuels. The rise of renewables like photo voltaic has additionally sparked extra funding in power storage and grid capability worldwide. Battery storage is predicted to exceed $50 billion in investments this 12 months, greater than double what was spent in 2022.
While the record-high funding is a promising signal for the way forward for clear power, there may be one main caveat: Spending is just not distributed equally. Most funding is going on in China, the United States, and the European Union; creating economies exterior of China make up solely 15% of this spending.
This is one thing that should change with a purpose to transition the world away from fossil fuels quick sufficient to fulfill international local weather objectives. Total funding in clear power must not solely double by 2030 to fulfill COP28 objectives — it must quadruple in creating economies exterior of China. This 12 months, the report predicts, clear power investments exterior of China will greater than double, in comparison with simply 4 years in the past, reaching practically $320 billion.
In different phrases, it’s not sufficient for the large spenders to maintain breaking data by investing in their very own international locations alone.