Positive trend in green energy investment

It is heartening that coal and gas-fired electricity generation last year drew less than half the record investment made in solar, wind and other renewables capacity, as revealed  in a UN-backed report. But for renewables, excluding large hydro, annual global CO2 emissions would have been an estimated 1.5 gigatonnes higher in 2015. Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, the 10th edition of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) annual publication, says the annual global investment in new renewables capacity, at $266bn, was more than double the estimated $130bn invested in coal and gas power stations in 2015.All investments in renewables, including early-stage technology and research and development as well as spending on new capacity, totalled $286bn in 2015, some 3% higher than the previous record in 2011. Since 2004, the world has invested $2.3 trillion in renewable energy (unadjusted for inflation). All figures for renewables include wind, solar, biomass and waste-to-energy, biofuels, geothermal, marine and small hydro, but exclude large hydro-electric projects of more than 50 megawatts.Equally significant was that developing world investments in renewables topped those of developed nations for the first time in 2015. Helped by further falls in generating costs per megawatt-hour, particularly in solar photovoltaics (PV), renewables excluding large hydro made up 54% of added gigawatt capacity of all technologies last year.  It marks the first time new installed renewables have topped the capacity added from all conventional technologies.The 134 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power added worldwide in 2015 compares to 106GW in 2014 and 87GW in 2013. As rightly pointed out by UNEP executive director Achim Steiner, renewables are becoming ever more central to our low-carbon lifestyles, and the record-setting investments in 2015 are further proof of this trend. As in previous years, the report shows the 2015 renewable energy market was dominated by solar photovoltaics and wind, which together added 118GW in generating capacity, far above the previous record of 94GW set in 2014. Wind added 62GW and photovoltaics 56GW.  In 2015, for the first time, investments in renewable energy in developing and emerging economy nations ($156bn, up 19% compared to 2014) surpassed those in developed countries ($130bn, down 8% from 2014). Much of these record-breaking developing world investments took place in China (up 17% to $102.9bn, or 36% of the world total).Other developing countries showing increased investment included India (up 22% ), South Africa (up 329%), Mexico (up 105%) and Chile (up 151%). Overall developing country investments last year were 17-times higher than in 2004. That the power generation capacity added by renewables exceeded new capacity added from conventional sources in 2015 shows that structural change is under way. But more needs to be done.