Clean energy investment to surpass oil productions – report

A new report published on Thursday by the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed clean energy investment is significantly surpassing that on fossils.

Fatih Birol said “For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy.” The report traced the trend back to concerns over energy security, which intensified the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Governmental proposals and policies such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act have also contributed to accelerating the trend. IEA’s report anticipated clean energy technologies to receive investments of about $1.7 trillion in 2023.

Additionally, the agency foresees a rise in annual clean energy investment between 2021 and 2023 by 24 percent.

On the other hand, investments on upstream oil and gas is expected to rise by seven percent in 2023. Oil and gas spending on low-emissions alternatives was less than five percent of its upstream spending in 2022.

The report outlined clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies being the biggest shortfalls. The international community has to put more effort in directing investment to lower-income economies, especially the private sector.