According to the International Energy Agency on Thursday, governments currently plan to allocate an estimated US$470 billion for clean energy investment between now and 2030, up by 20% compared to plans in July but noted that despite the increase, recovery is uneven and clean energy investment is not enough to prevent emissions growth.

According to the IEA’s Sustainable Recovery Tracker, governments announced 40 new funding announcements between July and October, as well as adding spending figures and details to 140 previously announced spending programmes.

The IEA reported that government investment in energy efficiency, clean fuels, and innovation funding, as well as low-carbon and efficient transportation, increased significantly, adding to already robust levels of government support for these areas.

The sustainable recovery spending, on the other hand, is grossly imbalanced: advanced economies have taken advantage of clean energy announcements, which, according to the IEA, fall short of putting CO2 emissions on a permanent downward trend.

In a statement, the Executive Director of the IEA, Fatih Birol, said: “We are witnessing an uneven and unsustainable recovery from last year’s economic crisis – a recovery that consists of huge growth in fossil fuel consumption while leaving behind nearly 80% of the world’s population in the shift towards a new and cleaner energy economy.”

Even in advanced economies, more needs to be done by 2050 to achieve net-zero emissions. New infrastructure expenditure packages being considered in France, Japan, and the United States could considerably increase clean energy spending in industrialised nations. Developed countries, on the other hand, will require even greater investments this decade to “to put them on a path consistent with reaching net zero emissions from energy globally by 2050,” according to the IEA.