IEA expects investments in solar energy to exceed oil for first time

International Energy Agency (IEA) expects a total of $2.8 trillion will be invested in global energy supplies in 2023, with more than $1.7 trillion going to clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and renewables.  

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the investment in solar energy is anticipated to exceed spending on oil production during 2023 for the first time, highlighting the growing trend towards clean energy.  

 
“If these clean energy investments continue to grow in line with what we have seen in the past few years, we will soon start to see a very different energy system emerging,” Birol told Financial Times. 

The increased spending on clean energy is driven by a strong rebound in economic growth following the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as concerns about price volatility and energy security sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, according to the IEA’s annual report published today, May 25.