Finance

Emissions Could Hit New Record by 2023 Without More Green Spending

The world isn't building back better at the scale needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Less than 15% of the $2.4 trillion in government spending to support the post-pandemic economic recovery has gone to investments in clean energy, according to the International Energy Agency.

“It’s a good start,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, “but the money is not sufficient” to the put the world on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. The majority of the $380 billion in green spending is happening in advanced economies, when it should be helping accelerate the transition to clean energy in emerging countries.