I continue my series on the various investments realized in renewables as the Worldwatch Institute released a report giving some data on this topic.
According to this NGO, global investments in these various energy sources might reach 66 billion USD in 2007, a sharp increase over 2005 and 2006.
The State of the World 2008 Report also provides a lot of invaluable data and I propose you an overview of the most interesting facts in today’s article.
First and foremost, what anglo-saxons refer to as Big Business (large multi-national companies) is beginning to realize that being environmentally friendly and start decreasing greenhouse gases emissions enables to make huge sums of money in the process.
As the Worldwatch Institute notes, DuPont saved 3 billion USD while decreasing its pollution by 72 percent compared to 1991 levels. An interesting prospect that will certainly interest more and more companies.
Also worth noting, carbon trading agreements are witnessing a boom as it tripled between 2006 and 2005, to reach 30 billion USD at the worldwide level.
A thing that seriously
The report also notes that, according to the World Bank, some 39 countries experienced a decline of 5 percent or more in wealth when accounting measures also included environmental losses, such as unsustainable forest harvesting, depletion of non-renewable resources, and damage from carbon emissions. For 10 countries, the decline ranged from 25 to 60 percent.
What if now GDP was considering environmental losses ? This could seriously trigger governments worldwide to work more seriously on these issues.
And you, what do you think about this news ?
Source :
- Actu Environnement [Fr] : 66 milliards de dollars ont été investis dans les ENR en 2007
Further reading :
- Worldwatch Institute : State of the World 2008, Innovations for a Sustainable Economy
