That $3 Trillion-a-Year Clean Energy Transformation? It’s Already Underway.

Much of the investment needed to transform the global energy supply system to keep global warming in check involves shifting money that would otherwise be spent on fossil fuel systems. Credit: Dennis Schroeder/NREL To keep global warming in check, the world will have to invest an average of around $3 trillion a year over the next three decades in transforming its energy supply systems, a new United Nations climate science report says. It won’t be cheap, but it’s also a change that’s already underway. Much of that investment is money that would be spent on energy systems anyway. Instead of continuing to invest it in fossil fuel-based energy that worsens global warming and can harm human health, the report provides a pathway for shifting those investments to clean energy. The landmark report , released Oct. 8 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sums up years of research into the risks to people and ecosystems if global temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, and it looks at how to stop that from happening. The planet has already warmed about 1°C, and it’s gaining about 0.2°C every decade, the report says. Our stories. Your inbox. Every weekend. […]

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