Clean energy spending to outpace fossil fuels for first time ever

Global investment in clean energy is rising and is now set to outpace spending on fossil fuels for the first time ever. That’s according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), who released its latest World Energy Investment report on Thursday, May 25.

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According to the report, rich countries are the ones pushing the clean energy spending. The IEA reported $2.8 trillion will be devoted to energy projects around the world in 2023. $1.7 trillion of that is set to go to clean technologies, which include:

• Renewables.
• Electric vehicles.
• Nuclear power.
• Grids.
• Storage.
• Low-emissions fuels.
• Efficiency improvements.
• Heat pumps.

The other $1.1 trillion is going to coal, gas and oil. 

“Clean energy is moving fast – faster than many people realize. This is clear in the investment trends, where clean technologies are pulling away from fossil fuels,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “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.”

Thursday’s report doesn’t mean the end of fossil fuels quite yet. In fact, investments in coal are set to rise by about 10% in 2023, nearly six times what the agency says they should be.