International Energy Agency (IEA): Global energy investment reached $185 trillion in 2018.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said this week that global energy investment reached $1.85 trillion in 2018, ending three consecutive years of negative growth and making the electricity sector the largest investment area for the third consecutive year.
From an industry perspective, upstream investment in oil and gas projects (including exploration, drilling and infrastructure) grew by 4% in 2018 and new coal resources by 2%, the first increase since 2012.
Meanwhile, investment in new types of renewable energy has fallen by about 2%. The IEA warned that by 2030, the world must double its spending on renewable energy and cut investment in oil and coal to maintain the Paris climate treaty's temperature targets.
The report also points out that climate change lacks a clear policy direction, leading energy investors to shift to projects with shorter delivery times and possibly leading to future supply and demand gaps.
According to current trends, funds for the development of all types of energy, especially oil, natural gas and coal, will fail to meet projected global energy needs in the next decade.
Fatih Birol, executive director of IEA, said: "There is not enough investment in the world to maintain the current consumption pattern. It also does not have enough investment in clean energy technology to change direction. Whatever way you look at it, we will store risk in the future.
According to IEA, investment in solar, wind, energy efficiency and carbon storage technologies will reach $304 billion in 2018, but it will have to double to $606 billion over the next decade to achieve the target.
At the same time, investment in nuclear power development must also increase substantially, from $47 billion in 2018 to $76 billion, and investment in grid and battery storage needs to increase by more than 50% to $464 billion. Overall, "achieving the goal of sustainable development requires a broader input from fuel supply to electricity, but this has not yet happened," said Tim, head of IEA's World Energy Outlook and Investment Department.
At the national level, China continues to be the largest energy investment market in 2018, but its leading edge has shrunk. India is the second largest investment after the United States. However, the world's poorest regions still see a disproportionate lack of funding for any form of new energy. For example, sub-Saharan Africa "received only about 15% of its investment in 2018, although it accounts for 40% of the global population," the IEA said.
