Investments in solar power around the world are on course to overtake spending on oil production for the first time, the foremost example of a widening gap between renewable energy funding and stagnating fossil fuel industries, according to the head of the International Energy Agency.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, more than $1 billion a day is expected to be invested in solar power this year, which is higher than total spending expected for new upstream oil projects.
Spending on so-called clean energy projects—which includes renewable energy, electric vehicles, low-carbon hydrogen and battery storage, among other things—is rising at a “striking” rate and vastly outpacing spending on traditional fossil fuels, Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said in an interview.
Birol pointed to a “powerful alignment of major factors,” driving clean energy spending higher, while spending on oil and other fossil fuels remains subdued. This includes mushrooming government spending aimed at driving adherence to global climate targets such as President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Read the full story.
