Green Transition Scoreboard Pinpoints $6.22 Trillion Invested In Global Green Economy

Released earlier this month, Ethical Markets released its latest Green Transition Scoreboard, which pinpointed $6.22 trillion invested so far since 2007 in the global green economy.

According to Ethical Markets, the publisher of the report, “The Green Transition Scoreboard is a time-based global tracking of the private financial system for all sectors involved with green markets, producing a transparent line of sight toward the ethical progress of wealth building as defined by the triple bottom line of planet, people, and profits.” Created by author Hazel Henderson, this year’s 2015 Green Transition Scoreboard Report tracks renewable energy, energy efficiency, green construction, life systems, and corporate green research & development.

Specifically, “life systems” is a new category added to the report, “tracking the system-wide interconnections among efficiency, information and digitisation, energy, water, food, education, and health.” As such, the spread of investment looks like this:

The Report highlights each of the key factors it tracks:

• Renewable Energy – Growing strongly despite huge continued subsidies on fossil fuels and nuclear and scaling back on some projects.
• Energy Efficiency – Game-changing ripple effects positively impacting jobs creation, manufacturing and other metrics tracked by traditional GDP.
• Green Construction – Experiencing an innovation boom as green construction standards are adopted worldwide.
• Life Systems – Covers broad areas of sustainability that are systemically linked: natural resources, agriculture, water, smart cities, green infrastructure and the rapid digitization “infostructure” underpinning efficiency gains and quality of life.
• Corporate Green R&D – This sector largely tracks the automotive industry, R&D in electric vehicles, battery technology, new design as well as company innovation toward more sustainable futures.

Daniel Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, UC Berkeley, says of the report, “recognizing markets make terrible masters but potentially invaluable servants, the Green Transition Scoreboard® provides a strong argument that a diversity of practices can be used in the private sector to address pressing social needs in a the framework of sustainability. It is vital to get this message in front of the private sector and all those who work with commercial enterprises in an era of environmental and social change.”