BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. Global investments in energy transition technologies in 2022 stood at $1.3 billion, Trend reports via the latest publication from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Those investments include the financing of renewable energy, energy efficiency, electrified transport and heat, energy storage, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.
As the IRENA pointed out, it was able to attract such sufficient investments in "clean" technologies, notwithstanding heavy macroeconomic, geopolitical and supply chain obstacles.
Thus, the global investments in energy transition technologies over the last year increased by 19 percent year-on-year, and by 50 percent, compared to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic, which indicates an increasing recognition of the climate crisis and energy security risks related to over-reliance on fossil fuels.
"Yet, the current pace of investment is not sufficient; annual investments need to at least quadruple. Keeping the world on track to achieving the energy transition in line with the 1.5°C Scenario laid out in IRENA’s World energy transitions outlook 2022 will require annual investments of $5.7 trillion on average between 2021 and 2030, and $3.7 trillion between 2031 and 2050," the report noted.
At the same time, as the report noted, the investments in new fossil fuel projects decreased by 22 percent in 2020, compared to $1 trillion invested in 2019, mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global energy markets. However, in 2021, fossil fuel investment rose again by 15 percent to $897 billion, and the preliminary 2022 data suggest that it may have returned to pre-pandemic levels (+6 percent), reaching $953 billion.