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.
It’s genuinely impressive the US has spent more in Q1+Q2 than it has in 2021 and previously. A very good turnaround!
I think the US is taking this green energy seriously as they really want to be at the forefront of whatever new technological revolutions that shake out from green energy investments (as opposed to, say, China).
Whatever the reason, this sort of race is ultimately a good thing for humanity as a whole.
Could you expand on that?
China also aggressively pursues green energy and wants to be the leader in that field.
A 21st century green space-race is exactly what we need. Nothing furthers technology better than good old competition. And war. But competition will do.