Comment on UNEP's Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016 report

New report on global investment trends in renewable energy is ‘extremely significant’, says Prof Catherine Mitchell

By George Smeeton

info@eciu.net

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A new report on global investment trends in renewable energy is ‘extremely significant’, says Catherine Mitchell, Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Exeter.

In 2015, for the first time, investments in renewable energy in developing and emerging economy nations surpassed those in developed countries. Image: Land Rover Our Planet, creative commons licence
In 2015, for the first time, investments in renewable energy in developing and emerging economy nations surpassed those in developed countries. Image: Land Rover Our Planet, creative commons licence

Professor Mitchell said: “There are some eye-catching figures in this report which are, as UNEP says, extremely significant. We’re looking at serious sums of money being invested in clean energy, with the dirtiest forms of fossil fuels the losers.

“This report shouldn’t be viewed in isolation either; just a week ago, the International Energy Agency reported a decoupling of global energy-related emissions and economic growth, driven largely by investment in renewables and energy efficiency; China’s recent new five-year plan set out their ambition to scale up investments in renewable energy; and a report this week suggested that coal growth in Asia is also faltering.

“Is this the ‘Paris effect’ in action? It certainly feels like that, and what’s certain is that this is the direction of travel that we need to see to have a chance of escaping the worst impacts of climate change.”

Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), is available here.