750,000,000 – the annual investment (in US$) in wind and solar capacity thought to be needed to keep the temperature rise below 2 degrees
264,000,000 – the amount in US$ that the EU claims it will spend on climate measures as part of a Covid recovery plan
4,000,000 – the number of people killed each year from the burning of fossil fuels; mostly in developing economies
1928 – the date that ExxonMobil first entered the Dow Jones Index; it fell out this month
72 – the % of solar modules produced by Chinese firms
69 – the % of lithium ion batteries produced by Chinese firms
45 – the % of wind turbines produced by Chinese firms
40 – the price of oil in US$. Saudi Arabia needs a price of ~75 US$ even to break even
5 – the % of the world's energy currently produced by solar and wind.
These are taken from a Leader in The Economist of September 17th. The edition has a special feature on the future of energy and the end (?) of the oil age. The last and first numbers are linked. If the 5% has to have a chance of reaching 50% by, say, 2050, $750bn is the sort of level of spending that will be needed. Currently, it is only a third of this.
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