Clean energy $ not enough to protect climate: analysis

Clean energy investments around the world aren’t high enough to avert the worst effects of climate change, according to New Energy Finance’s (NEF) “Global Futures 2009.”

Analysts from NEF presented their findings today at the New Energy Finance Summit.

While the global economic crisis will likely reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the impact over the long term is counterproductive to battling global warming, the Global Futures 2009 report asserts. Reduced funding for low-carbon energy technologies makes it less likely the world will reach the $500 billion-per-year investment needed by 2020 to ensure carbon emissions peak no later than that year.

According to the NEF analysis, annual global spending on clean energy is expected to keep steady at about $150 billion until economic growth resumes. Those projected levels of future investment aren’t enough to lead to carbon emissions reductions until 2030 or later, the analysis concludes.

“This should be a real wake-up call,” said Michael Liebreich, Chairman and CEO of NEF. “New Energy Finance is generally on the optimistic side of the debate: even with the current recession we are more bullish on the shift to clean energy than most mainstream analysts. However, it is no longer possible to say we are on track to achieve peak CO2 by 2020. Something has to happen, either in terms of restoring credit to clean energy projects, or in terms of a surprisingly substantial outcome in Copenhagen.”