Investment in climate change projects falls says think tank report
Financing for projects to combat climate change fell one per cent last year according to the Climate Policy Initiative. Global investment in climate change reached £222.55bn in 2012, compared to £225.65bn the year before.
The figure comes well below what some bodies are recommending to combat climate change. The International Energy Agency forecasts that over £3 trillion will be needed by 2020 to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius.
The Public sector provided £83.6bn globally, or 38 per cent of the total finance, while the private sector provided £138.86bn. A large portion of private sector investment was only made possible was made possible by public sector measures such as loan guarantees and tax incentives.
Thomas C. Heller, executive director of Climate Policy Initiative, said:
Investment to combat and adapt to climate change is happening around the world, but it’s short of where it needs to be and efforts to grow it have not been successful enough.
There was a relatively small gap between finance in developed and developing countries with £109.73bn and £112.83bn being invested respectively. Investment in Europe reached £45bn followed closely by China £42bn and the US lagging at £16bn.
The report comes a little over a week after the figures released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed that global investment in renewable energy was £28.7bn in the third quarter of 2013, a 14 per cent fall on the second quarter of this year.