United Nations Environment Programme
Nairobi, Kenya
01 Jul 08
With end of cheap oil, renewables and energy efficiency attracts fast-growing interest; new investment surpasses $148 billion in 2007, a 60 percent rise from 2006
Climate change worries, growing support from world governments, rising oil prices and ongoing energy security concerns combined to fuel another record-setting year of investment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in 2007, according to an analysis issued Tuesday July 1 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Over $148 billion in new funding entered the sustainable energy sector globally last year, up 60% from 2006, even as a credit crunch began to roil financial markets, according to the report, “Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008,” prepared by UK-based New Energy Finance for UNEP’s Paris-based Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative.
“Just as thousands were drawn to California and the Klondike in the late 1800s, the green energy gold rush is attracting legions of modern day prospectors in all parts of the globe,” says Achim Steiner, head of UNEP.
“A century later, the key difference is that a higher proportion of those looking for riches today may find them. With world temperatures and fossil fuel prices climbing higher, it is increasingly obvious to the public and investors alike that the transition to a low-carbon society is both a global imperative and an inevitability.”
Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/udot-uce062708.php
Coverage summary: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pRwdzmg01IrTK68uqOGHZNQ&hl=en