- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
- Investors swoop in to save German flying taxi startup
- How Finnish youth learn to spot disinformation
- 12 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Panama leaders past and present reject Trump's threat of Canal takeover
- Hong Kong police issue fresh bounties for activists overseas
- Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
- India consider second spinner for Boxing Day Test
- London wall illuminates Covid's enduring pain at Christmas
- Poyet appointed manager at South Korea's Jeonbuk
- South Korea's opposition vows to impeach acting president
- The tsunami detection buoys safeguarding lives in Thailand
- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
Solar investment outshines oil: IEA
Investment in solar power is expected to overtake oil for the first time this year as clean energy spending outpaces that for fossil fuels, the IEA said in a report Thursday.
While that is a welcome development, the International Energy Agency warned that investment in fossil fuels is rising when it should be falling fast to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
"Clean energy is moving fast –- faster than many people realise," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement accompanying the release of the agency's latest report on energy investment.
"This is clear in the investment trends, where clean technologies are pulling away from fossil fuels," he added.
Annual investment in clean energy is expected to have risen by 24 percent from 2021 to more than $1.7 trillion in 2023, according to the IEA. The gain for fossil fuels was 15 percent over the same period.
Investment in clean energy and fossil fuels was equal only five years ago. But a combination of factors, in particular high oil and gas prices and a worry about supplies, has seen spending on renewables surge ahead.
"One shining example is investment in solar, which is set to overtake the amount of investment going into oil production for the first time," Birol said.
The IEA expects investment in solar power, essentially photovoltaic panels, to hit $380 billion this year, while investment in oil exploration and extraction should come in at $370 billion.
- Sun King -
"This crowns solar as a true energy superpower," said Dave Jones, head of data insights at the energy think tank Ember.
The low price of solar power generation will help propel decarbonisation efforts as electric car adoption gathers pace.
But the rebound in oil and gas investment, which is expected to return to 2019 levels this year, puts the industry further away from the IEA's 2050 net zero trajectory.
The IEA says overall 2023 fossil fuel investment is expected to be more than double the amount the sector should be spending in 2030. For coal, it cold hit six times the amount.
The IEA also noted that clean energy investment was concentrated in advanced nations and China, while the biggest increases in fossil fuel investment are in Middle Eastern nations.
"The irony remains that some of the sunniest places in the world have the lowest levels of solar investment, and this is a problem that needs attention," said Jones.
The IEA also found that major energy companies, for the most part, are not putting considerable funds into the transition to green energy.
Just five percent of their cash flow last year went to low-carbon and renewable energies or carbon capture projects, only about a quarter of the amount that was paid out overall to shareholders.
B.Godinho--PC