Clean energy investment may hit $2 trillion a year by 2030: IEA

Clean energy investment could be on course to exceed $2 trillion per year by 2030, an increase of over 50% compared to today, according to analysis from the International Energy Agency.

The projection is found within the Paris-based organization’s World Energy Outlook 2022, which was published on Thursday morning.

It’s based on the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario, which factors in what it calls “the latest policy settings worldwide.”

Despite this increase, the IEA repeated its assertion that clean energy investment would still need to hit over $4 trillion by 2030 in its Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario.

This, the IEA’s report said, highlighted “the need to attract new investors to the energy sector.”

The shadow of 2015’s Paris Agreement looms large over the IEA’s report.

The landmark accord aims to “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”

Cutting human-made carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 is seen as crucial when it comes to meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.

The newest edition of the World Energy Outlook comes at a time of significant uncertainty and volatility in global energy markets.

According to Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, the changes taking place appear to be seismic ones.

“Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come,” he said. “Even with today’s policy settings, the energy world is shifting dramatically before our eyes.”

Birol added, “Government responses around the world promise to make this a historic and definitive turning point towards a cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy system.”

In a statement accompanying the report’s release, the IEA said its Stated Policies Scenario had “global demand for every fossil fuel exhibiting a peak or plateau.”

Under this outlook, “coal use falls back within the next few years, natural gas demand reaches a plateau by the end of the decade, and rising sales of electric vehicles … mean that oil demand levels off in the mid-2030s before ebbing slightly to mid-century.”

The IEA’s statement also noted, however, that there was a huge amount of work to be done in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Under its Stated Policies Scenario, fossil fuels’ share in the planet’s energy mix would be a little over 60% by the middle of this century.

“Global CO2 emissions fall back slowly from a high point of 37 billion tonnes per year to 32 billion tonnes by 2050,” it added.

“This would be associated with a rise of around 2.5 °C in global average temperatures by 2100, far from enough to avoid severe climate change impacts.”

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