IEA: Global Spending on Clean Energy Infrastructure to Hit $2tn in 2024

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Global spending on clean energy technologies and infrastructure is on track to hit $2 trillion in 2024 even as higher financing costs hinder new projects, notably in emerging and developing economies, a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), has stated.

Despite pressures on financing, global investment in clean energy is set to reach almost double the amount going to fossil fuels this year, it said, helped by improving supply chains and lower costs for clean technologies.

Total energy investment worldwide is expected to exceed $3 trillion in 2024 for the first time, with some $2 trillion set to go toward clean technologies – including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps.

The annual World Energy Investment report, said that the remainder, slightly over $1 trillion, is going to coal, gas and oil.

In 2023, combined investment in renewable power and grids overtook the amount spent on fossil fuels for the first time, the report showed.

The new report warned, however, that there are still major imbalances and shortfalls in energy investment flows in many parts of the world, highlighting the low level of clean energy spending in emerging and developing economies (outside China), which is set to exceed $300 billion for the first time – led by India and Brazil.

“Yet, this accounts for only about 15 per cent of global clean energy investment, far below what is required to meet growing energy demand in many of these countries, where the high cost of capital is holding back the development of new projects.

“Clean energy investment is setting new records even in challenging economic conditions, highlighting the momentum behind the new global energy economy. For every dollar going to fossil fuels today, almost two dollars are invested in clean energy,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.