The "coronation" of the Sun King: investments in low-carbon energies are accelerating, with solar power ready to exceed the amounts devoted to oil extraction in 2023, indicates Thursday May 25 the International Energy Agency (IEA ), which however also foresees a "rebound" in fossil fuel financing.
Driven by the energy and climate crises, investment in low-carbon technologies is expected to reach $1.700 trillion in 2023, when around $1.000 trillion will go to oil, gas and coal, according to the IEA's annual report on investment in energy. energy.
These flows, which relate to renewables (wind, solar, etc.), nuclear, electric cars, heat pumps, etc. should grow by 24% per year over the period 2021-23.
At the same time, the amounts devoted to hydrocarbons and coal continue to increase by 15% annually.
"Clean energy is progressing rapidly, faster than many people imagine," said IEA director Fatih Birol: "for every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1,7 dollars go to clean energy Five years ago that ratio was 1-1".
In particular, “solar is the star,” the report notes: “more than $2023 billion a day is expected to go to solar investments in 380 ($XNUMX billion for the full year), pushing for the first time this amount beyond that invested in oil production", report the experts of the Paris-based agency.
Against 370 billion dollars planned for oil production (exploration and extraction).
Another example is that global investment in electricity production is now 90% dominated by low-carbon technologies.
The volatility of fossil fuel prices, reinforced by the war in Ukraine, and the support measures taken by the European Union, China, Japan and the United States reinforced the trend.
The Sun King and the Coal King
However, the IEA issues several warnings, first on the ultra-dominance of China and advanced economies in this movement.
Despite some gleams (solar in India, Brazil, the Middle East), elsewhere investments are struggling, warns the agency, an offshoot of the OECD, which calls on the international community to mobilize on this subject.
“Solar finds itself crowned as a true energy superpower, the primary vehicle we have for a rapid decarbonization of the economy,” responded Dave Jones of energy think tank Ember.
And yet, "the irony is that some of the sunniest places in the world have the lowest levels of investment in solar, it's a problem that will have to be addressed," he adds.
Another major downside pointed out by the IEA: oil and gas exploration and exploitation expenditure is expected to grow by 7% in 2023, a return to 2019 levels which takes the world away from the trajectory towards carbon neutrality in the middle of the century.
The IEA had in 2021 in a very noticed scenario on carbon neutrality, underlined the need to immediately abandon any new project of exploitation of fossil energies.
Carbon neutrality, which involves not emitting more greenhouse gases than we can absorb, aims to keep global warming below 1,5°C in order to avoid major impacts and irreversible.
However, coal alone saw its demand reach a historic peak in 2022, and investment in this sector in 2023 should be six times higher than what the IEA recommends for 2030 if we want to move towards neutrality. ..
The oil and gas giants last year directed the equivalent of less than 5% of their production expenditure towards low-carbon energies (biogas, wind power, etc.) and carbon capture. Even if it is a little higher for the European majors, this proportion has barely increased overall compared to 2021, notes the IEA.
