Private and public investment in clean energy rose to a total of $147B in the first half of this year — a record-setting figure.
Exactly two years ago today, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, establishing a wide array of clean energy programs meant to supercharge spending on climate solutions.
Investment in clean energy projects — from solar manufacturing facilities to home batteries to hydrogen hubs — has taken off ever since, rising to record heights in the first half of this year.
Across the first six months of 2024, U.S. cleantech investment hit $147 billion, per new data from the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project from Rhodium Group and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. That’s a more than 30 percent jump from the first half of 2023. The report measures actual investment — not announcements or plans — from both public and private sources.
The true measure of success is the percentage of our total energy consumption that comes from renewables/fossil fuels.
In 2013, renewables accounted for 5.8% of total energy consumption, fossil fuels accounted for 84.4% of total energy consumption.
In 2023, renewables accounted for 9.8% of total energy consumption, fossil fuels accounted for 80.6% of total energy consumption.
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It’s certainly moving in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.