Pew Reports on Potential $2.3 Trillion Clean Power Investment by 2020

A report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that investment in clean power projects could rise as high as US$2.3 trillion at the end of the next decade.  

The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank that supports public policy research aimed at improving education, the environment, and health and human services, says that private investment (read venture capital funding) in clean power among G-20 nations could be the serendipitous result of adopting clean energy policies whose ultimate aim is to keep global warming below the 2 degrees (Celsius) threshold, beyond which most scientists see an inevitable climate “tipping point”. The G-20, or Group of Twenty, is a consortium of nations formed in 1999 to discuss the global economy and make recommendations.  

Using data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and released through the Trust’s Environment Group, the report extrapolated from 2009 clean energy investments to conclude that such financing could reach US$2.3 trillion globally if the countries in question developed policies to strongly promote solar, wind, and hydro energy. Biofuels were absent from the equation due to concerns “surrounding the reliability of production targets.” Energy efficiency was also not a factor.  

The report also noted that, if current policies are all the inspiration offered to clean tech, investments would likely top out at $1.7 trillion – yet more evidence that the carrot works more magic than the stick.  

Strong policies would include renewable portfolio standards, or RPSs (mandated levels at which individual states calibrate renewable energy in the overall electricity generation mix); carbon taxing or cap-and-trade (putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions, as per the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, or COP15; figures available on page 23 of the report); feed-in tariffs (FiTS), which are price supports for renewable energy generation usually paid per watt-hour; and federally funded clean energy tax incentives like the United States' Treasury Grant Program (TGP) and the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Credit, both due to expire at the end of the year.   

The report suggests that the maximum level of investment could ultimately provide 23 percent of generation from renewable resources across the G-20 as a whole, though the figure might vary among individual nations. The biggest gainers are likely to be India, with as much as 763 percent more clean-energy investment over the next decade; the UK, with investments rising by almost half; and China, Japan and South Korea, which would each see 40 percent more clean tech investment by 2020.  

Synthesizing the 80-page report, it becomes evident that the clean energy sector is the wave of the future in economic terms. As Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew’s Climate and Energy Program, notes, nations that want to stimulate investment in clean tech, add jobs, revitalize manufacturing, and stimulate trade should first bolster their clean energy policies.