A new report by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) reveals increased investment is urgently needed to meet climate targets.
The global team of scientists behind the paper say that to keep global temperature rises below the 1.5-2°C – agreed by the Paris agreement – investments in low carbon energy tech will need to overtake those of fossil fuels by 2025. To meet ‘investment gaps’, an additional US$130 billion will be required by 2030; and to hit the 2°C target US$320 billion will be needed, jumping to US$480 billion for 1.5°C.
“We know that limiting global temperatures to well below 2°C demands that renewables and efficiency scale up rapidly, but few studies have calculated the energy investment needs for a fundamental system transformation, at least not with an eye toward 1.5°C and using multiple scientific modelling frameworks running side-by-side,” says IIASA researcher and lead author of the study David McCollum.
While the scientific evidence should be enough, the reality is business and political decision makers often focus on the bottom line. And serial pioneer, Dr Bertrand Piccard, is on a mission to show them that protecting the environment is profitable. He is currently promoting 1000 clean tech solutions that can accelerate the shift to a sustainable world – and the Efficient Solution Label, which convenes that message.
