World needs $48 trillion to meet energy needs to 2035

• 10 years ago (2014-06-04)
• Junior Isles

Nuclear 659

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Meeting the world’s growing need for energy will require more than $48 trillion in investment over the period to 2035, according to a special report on investment released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as part of the World Energy Outlook series.

Today’s annual investment in energy supply of $1.6 trillion needs to rise steadily over the coming decades towards $2 trillion. Annual spending on energy efficiency, measured against a 2012 baseline, needs to rise from $130 billion today to more than $550 billion by 2035.

Of the cumulative global investment bill in the report’s main scenario, around $40 trillion is in energy supply and the remainder in energy efficiency. Of the investment in energy supply, $23 trillion is in fossil fuel extraction, transport and oil refining; almost $10 trillion is in power generation, of which low-carbon technologies – renewables ($6 trillion) and nuclear ($1 trillion) – make up the lion’s share; and a further $7 trillion in transmission and distribution.

The report notes, however, that the investment path falls well short of reaching climate stabilisation goals, as today’s policies and market signals are not strong enough to switch investment to low-carbon sources and energy efficiency at the necessary scale and speed.