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| DATE | 2024-08-31 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] =?utf-8?q?More_Than_40=25_of_World=E2=80=99s_E?=
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More Than 40% of World’s Electricity Came From Zero-Carbon Sources in 2023
Investments in renewables continue to outpace fossil fuels, a
BloombergNEF report finds
By H. Claire Brown
Aug. 27, 2024 3:22 pm ET|WSJ Pro
A solar power farm floats at sea off Singapore. Photo: roslan
rahman/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Zero-carbon technologies comprised more than 40% of global electricity
generation for the first time in 2023, according to a report released
Tuesday from BloombergNEF.
Renewable energy sources like wind and solar made up 17% of total
electricity generation, and hydroelectric and nuclear power contributed
24%. Fossil fuels including coal and natural gas produced 57% of global
electricity last year.
“We’ve consistently seen the penetration of renewables rising every
year, and this year we hit quite a few milestones that had felt harder
to reach in past years,” said Meredith Annex, head of clean power at BNEF.
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One such milestone: Solar and wind represented more than 90% of global
energy capacity additions last year, a step up from 2022. Global wind
capacity also crossed the one-terawatt threshold. And Brazil, the
country with the cleanest power mix of the G-20 economies, hit 88%
renewable power generation in 2023.
“It just shows the momentum that the space is having. A lot of that does
tie into the investment story, where you’ve got rising—skyrocketing,
honestly—investment into solar,” Annex said.
Mainland China accounted for almost a third of total renewable energy
output last year. The country recently reached its 2030 target for wind
and solar energy six years early, according to a statement from its
National Energy Administration, and it has pulled back on permits for
new coal-fired power plants. The country’s rapid deployment of
renewables has some analysts wondering if it will reach peak fossil fuel
consumption this year. Declining emissions in China would signal a
turning point because it is the world’s largest polluter, comprising
nearly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the
International Energy Agency.
Despite rapid growth in renewables, countries’ current commitments
aren’t sufficient to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the
goal outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to the IEA.
Advanced economies would need to slash emissions by 80% by 2035 to meet
the goal.
At last December’s COP28, a global climate conference hosted by the
United Nations, participating countries agreed to triple renewable
energy capacity by 2030. BNEF has forecast that achieving this goal
would require investments in renewables to increase to 1.6 times 2023
levels from 2024 to 2030.
So far, that increase hasn’t materialized. Global investments in
renewables are roughly on par with 2023 levels, at $313 billion in the
first half of 2024, according to the new BNEF analysis. “We’re expecting
steady growth, but steady growth does not get you to net zero,” Annex said.
The topline numbers obscure bigger changes under the surface. Average
spending in the U.S. is up by about 63% compared with levels before the
2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which offers generous subsidies and tax
breaks to promote decarbonization. And while Chinese investment is
actually down 4% from the same period in 2023, Annex said the dip is due
to cheaper equipment for wind and solar, not a decline in demand.
The second half of this year will be a “defining moment,” for the
investment landscape, Annex said. Steady growth “is definitely a
positive, and it could be a sign that the industry as a whole is
reaching a new kind of status quo, but we need to help expand even
faster if we’re going to be in line with net zero.”
Write to H. Claire Brown at claire.brown-at-wsj.com
Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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