The world will need to invest $4.5 trillion (£3.7 trillion) a year from the start of the next decade if it is to reach net zero by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.
The Paris-based organisation said that record growth in clean energy technology, including solar panels and electric vehicles, means it is still possible to limit rises in global temperatures to 1.5C.
However, it would require a huge ramping up of spending. World governments and organisations are expected to spend $1.8 trillion (£1.5 trillion) on the transition to cleaner energy in 2023.
Temperatures have hit record levels this year and global averages are around 1.1C higher compared with the pre-industrial average.
That compares with the goal set by the 2015 UN Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rises well below 2C, while pursuing efforts to limit them to 1.5C to prevent the most severe consequences, such as drought, floods and increased wildfires.
In its update to its Net Zero Roadmap, the IEA said that the world needs to triple global renewable capacity,…
