World now invests almost 2x more in clean energy than fossil fuels!

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica by email. Or Follow us on Google News!

---

One way to predict where the future is going is to look at what human society is investing in. 100 years ago, we invested a lot in developing fossil fuels, and we burned a lot of fossil fuels back then. Even 15 years ago, human society invested more in fossil fuels than in clean energy. But that was the last year that was the case. Since then, investment in clean energy has been growing, especially since 2021. On the other hand, investment in fossil fuels is well below its 2015 level. The result: investment in clean energy is almost double investments in fossil fuels in 2024.

Many people still don't understand that clean energy beats fossil fuels, let alone doubling his investments. However, we have many more signs of this.

As we just published, electricity generation from wind energy now beats electricity generation from coal in the United States.

Investments in solar energy have far exceeded predictions over the past decade:

Global solar capacity reached 1,419 gigawatts in 2023, significantly more than any major meteorologist predicted 🚀🚀 https://t.co/2FFsXtGuI7 photo.twitter.com/the7O5gQW4

— Science is strategic (@scienceisstrat1) June 20, 2024

It seems we have reached a point of contact the era of peak fossil fuels.

We've also seen things like the collapse of coal production in coal countries, as this chart shows:

It’s truly AMAZING. Alberta went from HALF of its electricity grid powered by coal to zero in less than a decade… photo.twitter.com/JzcvZ1dkmf

— Ryan Katz-Rosene, PhD (@ryankatzrosene) June 25, 2024

The cleantech revolution is underway. Statistic after statistic and graph after graph show it. But back to that IEA Report Given the information stated above, let's dig a little deeper into the details.

The second key point, including the ellipsis, is this: “…but there are large investment imbalances, and emerging market and developing countries (EMDE) outside China account for only about 15% of global clean energy spending.”

Indeed, when we break down where clean energy (and fossil fuel) investment is happening around the world, we see that China is the driving force behind what’s happening, good or bad, followed by the United States and Europe. Renewable energy investment still outpaces fossil fuel investment in the rest of the world, but energy investment is generally dominated by those three powers, and especially China.

Perhaps the most striking thing, and what struck me most about this chart, is how much was invested in energy efficiency (which typically gives the best return on investment) and grids and storage. Generally speaking, investments in fossil fuels are a fraction of investments in clean technology. At the same time… we shouldn’t be investing in fossil fuels at all right now!

But here's a big, fun, and even exceptional one:

Investments in solar energy development outpace investments in all other generation technologies combinedSolar energy is clearly the technology of choice for new energy capacity worldwide today.

“The cost of solar panels has fallen by 30% over the past two years, and the prices of minerals and metals critical to the energy transition have also fallen sharply, particularly the metals needed for batteries.” That has clearly played a key role in driving these trends.

I conclude with two graphs and a quote showing that household investment represents a surprisingly large share of total global investment in energy generation technologies.

“Households are emerging as key players for clean energy investments for consumers, underscoring the importance of affordability and access to capital,” the IEA writes.

Overall, we have many positive signs of progress in clean energy and the demise of fossil fuels. Some people and organizations would have you believe otherwise, clinging to the past (and their money, if they are tied to the fossil fuel industry, which is usually the case), but clean energy is winning and will continue to win, led by solar. The future is bright. (But it is also hot, unless we accelerate this transition much faster.)