Earth 911 Podcast: Ben Wolkon on the Pace of Renewable Energy Investment

The pace of renewable energy investments has gained momentum over the past decade. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Investment 2023 report, $2.8 trillion will be invested this year in energy, including fossil fuels, with almost 61% dedicated to clean energy. Ben Wolkon is a founding partner at MUUS Climate Partners. The firm invests to accelerate renewable energy adoption and to create clean technologies. Now that renewables have crossed the chasm and entered the scale-up phase, we wanted to get a read on how to make more progress faster because the nation is still not on track to cut emissions by 50% before 2030.

The IEA reports that for each $1 spent on fossil fuel development, $1.7 is invested in clean energy. Five years ago, the ratio was 1:1. That’s real progress, and most of that investment flows into new companies. At the same time, oil companies are not turning their recent record profits into investments in renewables. Instead, they are developing more wells and paying dividends rather than investing in low-carbon and renewable energy. That leaves room for many upstarts, including MUUS Climate’s portfolio companies, our previous guest, Nth Cycle, as well as Harvest Thermal, BrightNight, and Cache Energy, among others.

Listen to the podcast here: https://earth911.com/eco-tech/earth911-podcast-ben-wolkon-on-the-pace-of-renewable-energy-investment/