World’s energy watchdog worries as global investment in renewables fall

The Guardian reports that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has sounded the alarm over a “worrying” pause in the shift to clean energy after global investment in renewables fell 7% to $318bn (£240bn) last year.

The IEA says the decline is set to continue into 2018. Investment in coal power dropped sharply in 2017, but was offset by an uptick in oil and gas spending, says the IEA’s World Energy Investment report.

The Guardian notes that the IEA says fossil fuels increased their share of energy supply investment in 2017 for the first time since 2014, to $790bn, and “will play a significant role for years on current trends”.

“Such a decline…is worrying … While we would need this investment to go up rapidly, it is disappointing to find that it might be falling this year,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director in a statement to The Financial Times.

Bloomberg says the IEA’s key message is: “More of the world will run on electricity in the future, but most of the power won’t be clean.”