Energy investment needs for fulfilling the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Low-carbon investments are necessary for driving the energy system transformation that is called for by both the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals. Improving understanding of the scale and nature of these investments under diverging technology and policy futures is therefore of great importance to decision makers. Here, using six global modelling frameworks, we show that the pronounced reallocation of the investment portfolio required to transform the energy system will not be initiated by the current suite of countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions.

Charting a course toward ‘well below 2 °C’ instead sees low-carbon investments overtaking fossil investments globally by around 2025 or before and growing thereafter.

Pursuing the 1.5 °C target demands a marked upscaling in low-carbon capital beyond that of a 2 °C-consistent future. Actions consistent with an energy transformation would increase the costs of achieving the goals of energy access and food security, but reduce the costs of achieving air-quality goals.

Authors

McCollum, David L. et.al.. with PBL contribution from Harmen-Sytze de Boer, Mathijs Harmsen and Detlef P. van Vuuren

Specifications

Publication title
Energy investment needs for fulfilling the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
Publication date
18 June 2018
Publication type
Publicatie
Magazine
Nature Energy
Product number
3319