$550 Billion Per Year Investment In Renewable Energy Needed To Meet Climate Change Goals

The world needs to more than double its annual investment in renewable energy by 2030 in order to achieve the target to restrict global rise in temperature of 2ºC by the end of the century, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has stated in one of recently published reports.

About $270 billion were invested globally in the renewable energy sector in 2011, the highest investment ever. While the investment has come down a bit over the last couple of years, the sector attracted $214 billion in fresh investments in 2013. But that’s not enough, IRENA feels.

According to IRENA, in order to restrict the rise in temperature up to 2ºC, the share of renewable energy in world’s total energy mix should by at least 36% by 2030. This requirement makes the role of renewable energy critical in the next climate change treaty that is supposed to be finalized by late next year at the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 at Paris.

IRENA highlights that renewable energy capacity addition has been on a uptrend for the last few years. In 2001, of the total power generation capacity added globally, only 19% were based on renewable energy technology; this share has increased to 58% in 2013. Last year, the net capacity addition through renewable energy technologies surpassed those non-renewable energy technologies for the first time.

As the efforts to clinch a comprehensive and effective climate change treaty are already underway, with the United Nations leading the way, IRENA is looking to set the tone for the negotiations. The agency may look to lobby for either some renewable energy targets, or a portion of Green Climate Fund be directed towards strengthening global renewable energy infrastructure across the world. Developed countries have pledged to put $100 billion every year in the Green Climate Fund for mitigation efforts across developing and underdeveloped countries.

Through the report, the agency seeks to highlight the fact that governments around the world are increasingly investing in strengthening clean energy infrastructure with a target to greenhouse gas emissions.

Image credit: wind turbines in India via Shutterstock