Update: It is encouraging that clean energy has become more cost competitive since the Clean Trillion report was released in 2014, such that each dollar invested now buys much more clean energy capacity. However, because the Clean Trillion analysis was focused on achieving a 2ºC limit and the world subsequently committed via the Paris Agreement to limit temperature rise to well-below 2ºC with an aim for no more than 1.5ºC, the Clean Trillion should be viewed as a conservative estimate of the scale of capital flows actually needed.
In 2010 world governments agreed to limit the increase in global temperature to two degrees Celsius (2 °C) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To have an 80 percent chance of maintaining this 2 °C limit, the IEA estimates an additional $36 trillion in clean energy investment is needed through 2050—or an average of $1 trillion more per year compared to a “business as usual” scenario over the next 36 years. This Ceres report provides 10 recommendations for investors, companies and policymakers to increase annual global investment in clean energy to at least $1 trillion by 2030—roughly a four-fold jump from current investment levels.