Renewables too expensive---kills growth by outpacing transition.

CLIMATEWIRE | Global clean energy spending is expected to surge 12 percent in 2022, reaching $1.4 trillion as the world pours money into renewables, electric vehicles and energy efficiency, according to a recent International Energy Agency report. The finding, from IEA’s annual review of global energy investment, is especially notable because it represents an acceleration of the energy transition at a time when world leaders are prioritizing energy security and affordability due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Renewables, transmission networks and energy storage account for 80 percent of global power-sector investment, which outstrips total spending on oil and gas production and coal mining. The world now sells as many electric vehicles in a week as it did in a year a decade ago. Even technologies such as green hydrogen and carbon capture have started to gain momentum, IEA found. But trouble for the energy transition lurks beneath those green milestones. About half the increase in clean energy spending is due to rising prices — rather than investments in new clean energy capacity. Those price increases have been driven in large part by bottled-up supply chains, which have been unable to keep up with surging demand for the critical minerals used in solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles. And the adoption of clean technologies varies widely across the world. Rich countries are pouring money into cleaner technologies, while the energy transition largely bypasses less wealthy nations. There’s also this: Despite the accelerated spending on green technologies, the world still is not on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, IEA said. “A massive surge in investment to accelerate clean energy transitions is the only lasting solution,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. “This kind of investment is rising, but we need a much faster increase to ease the pressure on consumers from high fossil fuel prices, make our energy systems more secure, and get the world on track to reach our climate goals.” IEA’s report arrives as global energy markets are in turmoil. Oil markets already were tight entering 2022, with demand galloping ahead of supply. The rise in demand has been compounded by a refining crunch. IEA reckons global refining capacity declined for the first time in three decades last year. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only has exacerbated that dynamic, as many rich democracies around the world have shunned Russian oil. The war also has disrupted gas markets, with Europe scrambling to find a replacement for Russian shipments in the form of liquefied natural gas cargoes. As gas markets have grown tighter, many countries have turned to coal as an alternative. The problem: Coal markets already were squeezed due to falling investment in mining. Right now, less wealthy countries are being hammered by higher fossil fuel prices. IEA estimates 90 million people in Asia and Africa can no longer afford to pay for their energy needs.