Green investment must triple to save planet

Times Online
January 29, 2009
Jenny Booth

Clean energy investment needs to more than triple to $515 billion a year to stop planet-warming emissions reaching levels deemed unsustainable by scientists, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in a report today.
The hefty investments required in renewable energy sectors such as solar and wind energy need to be made between now and 2030, says the report, which was co-written by New Energy Finance, a research group.
“Clean energy opportunities have the potential to generate significant economic returns,” the WEF said in a statement accompanying the report.
Clean energy investments were $155 billion last year, up from $30 billion in 2004 but still far below the $515 billion the report’s authors say is needed to combat climate change.

Eight sectors are expected to contribute to the shift toward green energy, the report said. They include onshore wind, offshore wind, photovoltaic solar power, solar thermal energy, municipal solar waste-to-energy, sugar-based ethanol, cellulosic and other second-generation biofuels and geothermal power.
Meanwhile, climate change officials, including Yvo de Boer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, today urged heads of state attending the annual WEF meeting in Davos to use a portion of fiscal stimulus packages to invest in clean energy.
The also warned against complacency in UN climate talks.
Governments from around the world will meet in Copenhagen later this year to try to reach a deal to replace the Kyoto protocol, which sets targets for cutting carbon emissions.