Renewable energy is growing very, very fast. It’s just still not fast enough..
The global shift toward renewable energy is not only continuing apace — it may be picking up speed.
Such is the upshot of a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme, finding that worldwide investment in renewables totaled $ 270.2 billion in 2014, which represented an almost 17 percent increase over the prior year. Key drivers of renewables growth in 2014, the report found, were major solar investments in Japan and China and huge offshore wind outlays in Europe.
Strikingly, nearly half of the total investment — $ 131.3 billion — was in developing countries. That includes investments of over $1 billion apiece in Kenya, South Africa and Turkey.
