Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015

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In 2014, global investments in renewable energy increased by 17% to $270.2 billion. This was the first increase in investment for three years. And the trend was even more impressive in terms of capacity: last year a record of 95GW of wind and solar photovoltaic power was installed globally.

The results from this report indicate that we have made good progress – and indeed picked up some momentum – towards our goal of keeping global temperature within the two degrees Celsius limit. However, policy uncertainties in the US and UK markets, amongst others, and retroactive policy changes in countries such as Italy and Romania, as well as concerns about grid access for small-scale solar power in Japan and some US states, have resulted in early challenges for 2015. In this light, a clear signal for the phase-out of fossil fuel dominance by mid-century through a universal climate change agreement will help to make the world liveable in the long term.

See also our Blog section on this report for more information.