Rows of solar panels face skywards at the Greenough River Solar project near the town of Walkaway, about 350 km (217 miles) north of Perth October 10, 2012.

Rows of solar panels face skywards at the Greenough River Solar project near the town of Walkaway, about 350 km (217 miles) north of Perth October 10, 2012. Reuters/Rebekah Kebede

The findings of a new study have come as a shocker ahead of the Paris climate summit that is commencing on Nov. 30. It revealed that unlike the perception that rich countries are the flag bearers of clean energy investments, the reality is that emerging economies are ahead in taking up more clean tech energy investments.

The report cited the scenario of the year 2014, in which clean tech investments surged in 55 emerging economies or developing countries, and totalled US$126 billion (AU$173 billion) with China at the top, says a news report carried by Commodities Now.

The surge in clean energy investments in wind, solar, and other renewable power generation was apparent.

“Climatescope” clean energy country competitiveness index and interactive report offered a cross section of clean energy activity in 55 emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

It studied nations such as China, India, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, among others. The Paris summit is set to discuss how much capital wealthy countries can spare towards developing countries in mitigating the challenge of climate change.

The report noted that one of the drivers of clean energy adoption is the falling costs. The costs of solar photovoltaic power have tumbled 15 per cent year-on-year globally.

Some of the important findings in the report include:

More than half of the total investment in clean energy generating projects went to emerging markets

Investment in renewables jumped in the 55 Climatescope countries with a record $126 billion (AU$173.4 billion) in investment– up by 39 per cent from 2013 levels.

China topped the list by adding 35GW of new renewable power generating capacity in 2014, which was more than the combined clean energy built in the US, UK, and France.

In another first, renewables capacity in emerging markets exceeded that of the wealthier Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations.

Notably, the progress of emerging economies was achieved despite their low economic growth. The average GDP growth across all Climatescope nations plunged to 5.7 per cent in 2014 from the 6.4 per cent in 2013.

The study was conducted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and was commissioned by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), UK Government Department for International Development (DFID), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) with a mandate to analyse and rank development prospects in solar, wind, small hydro, geothermal, biomass, and other zero-carbon technologies.

Risk for fossil fuel companies

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that fossil fuel companies are facing the risk of wasting investors’ money up to US$2 trillion (AU$2.75 trillion) in the next 10 years as many projects will be rendered worthless after the intensified global action on climate change and surge in clean technologies.

It means no more new coal mines will be needed and oil demand will peak in 2020, according to think tank Carbon Tracker. It said projects worth US$2.2 trillion will be stranded as they run out of value when the market for fossil fuels shrinks.

According to the report, the US will have the greatest risk exposure in projects (US$412bn), followed by Canada ($220bn), China ($179bn) and Australia ($103bn). The UK’s North Sea oil and gas project will also face risk. Some of the affected companies will be Shell, ExxonMobil and Pemex.

“Too few energy companies recognise that they will need to reduce the supply of their carbon-intensive products to avoid pushing us beyond the internationally recognized carbon budget,” James Leaton, head of research and co-author of the report, said in a statement.

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