Spending on clean energy must ramp up – IEA
Fossil fuels still account for 43pc of energy spending, with same proportion expected for next year, the agency says
Fossil fuel investments accounted for 43pc of global energy spending in 2020, and the amount spent is expected to rise again in 2021, according to the IEA World Energy Investment Report. More than $726bn was invested in the fossil fuel industry in 2020 out of a total of $1,688bn spent within the energy industry, with the bulk of the rest ($614bn) going to renewables and electricity networks. A similar pattern is expected for 2021, with fossil fuels expected to account for 43pc of a total of $1850bn investments. “Much greater resources have to be mobilised and directed to clean energy technologies to put the world on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” says the IEA’s Fatih Birol. “Bas

Also in this section
22 July 2025
Sinopec hosts launch of global sharing platform as Beijing looks to draw on international investors and expertise
22 July 2025
Africa’s most populous nation puts cap-and-trade and voluntary markets at the centre of its emerging strategy to achieve net zero by 2060
17 July 2025
Oil and gas companies will face penalties if they fail to reach the EU’s binding CO₂ injection targets for 2030, but they could also risk building underused and unprofitable CCS infrastructure
9 July 2025
Latin American country plans a cap-and-trade system and supports the scale-up of CCS as it prepares to host COP30