Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analyst firm that specializes in renewable energy and carbon markets released a startling new report this week.

The firm's new research concludes that, although global expenditure on renewable products is expected to jump from $90 billion last year to $150 billion by 2020, it will need to increase by up to a third more in order to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

This means that yearly investments in renewable power sources must reach $230 billion by the end of the decade if governments are going to reach their goal of ensuring global greenhouse gas emissions peak.

According to Bloomberg, renewable energy will constitute 31% of the world's installed power generation capacity by 2030 - a jump from the 13% it constitutes today.

However, Bloomberg's New Energy Finance Global Energy and Emissions Model forecasts that renewable energy will need to account for more like 40% of installed capacity by 2030 if we want to keep in line with the scale of emission reductions that climate scientists believe will be required.

In its report, the firm points out that clean tech investment trends have remained relatively unchanged over the past five years.

There was a 6.6% dip in clean energy investment between 2008 and 2009 as a result of the recession - a figure that would have been worse had it not been for heavy investment in the sector by China and an increase in project financing in Europe and the Americas during the second half of the year due in part to stimulus funding. 

Guy Turner, the director of carbon market research at Bloomberg, said that despite falling short of the scale of emission cuts that are required, the projections indicate that the clean tech sector will enjoy rapid growth over the next 20 years.

Still, the firm warns that investment levels must rise faster if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Until next time,

Hilary