According to the International Energy Agency, investors will pump $1.7 trillion into environmentally-friendly energy in 2023. For the first time, investment in solar energy will surpass oil production. Well over half of all money spent on producing energy globally (about $2.8 trillion) will go to renewable sources. Furthermore, of all the countries investing in clean energy sources, China far surpasses every other nation. Here’s everything you need to know about the clean energy revolution and China’s highly aggressive investments in eco-friendly power.
China produced over three times more clean energy than the United States in 2022.
Statista reports China was by far the global leader in clean energy production in 2022. The country produced over 1,150 gigawatts of renewable power during the year. In comparison, the United States, the world’s second-largest renewables producer, pumped out less than a third of the power. The U.S. generated just over 350 gigawatts of eco-friendly energy in 2022.
And according to Scientific American, China spent nearly half of the total global investments on low-carbon energy in 2022. The country pumped almost $550 billion into various clean power sources, including solar, wind, and electric vehicles. Additionally, they accounted for over 90% of the world’s low-carbon manufacturing spending.
Furthermore, although the United States recently implemented $369 billion in incentives for domestic green energy, we’re still playing catch up. China has cultivated and grown an extremely effective and efficient renewable energy industry. They are able to produce renewables such as solar panels and EV battery cells far faster than any other country. Antoine Vagneur-Jones, BloombergNEF’s head of trade and supply chains, says China will likely dominate clean energy for the next decade.
Fossil fuels remain dominant in the global energy demand.
According to Reuters, despite global record investments in the clean energy revolution, fossil fuels remain the top global energy source. Despite efforts otherwise, non-renewable sources accounted for 82% of the worldwide energy supply, and demand increased by about 1%. Additionally, we would need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by about 43% by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement.
The agreement is an international clean energy treaty adopted by the UN at COP21 in 2015 to combat global warming. And Energy Institute president Juliet Davenport says 2022 was an overall regression in global clean power.
“Despite further strong growth in wind and solar […] overall global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions increased again,” Davenport said. “We are still heading in the opposite direction to that required by the Paris Agreement.”
Renewable energy, excluding hydropower, accounted for about 7.5% of the total global power consumption in 2022. Though renewables accounted for a relatively small portion of worldwide energy use, it grew by about 1% from 2021. However, fossil fuels accounted for 82% of total international power usage throughout 2022.
Additionally, global oil consumption increased by nearly three million barrels per day (BPD) from 2021 to 2022. The world consumed well over 97 million barrels of oil every day throughout the previous year. Greenhouse gas emissions also increased by about .8%, reaching a record high of 39.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent produced.
