G20 countries not yet beacons of renewable energy investing

Making renewable energy investment attractive is a key criteria of Paris Agreement

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No single country is close to becoming a role model for its investment attractiveness of renewables, according to Allianz.

Allianz, in partnership with Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute, published its Climate and Energy Monitor, which assessed countries within the G20 regarding their investment needs and attractiveness for renewable energy – a criteria to meet the Paris Agreement 2015 goals.

The firm said in the report: “Despite high scores for several countries, no single country is yet close to becoming a role model.

“All countries still have considerable room for improving investment conditions to deploy renewables at the scale needed to reach Paris targets.”

Ranking

Within the monitor, France moved two places to the top spot due to an overall “favourable environment for renewables”, leading the G20.

Germany fell back one place to second due to a drop in the quality of the overall policy environment for renewables and some deficiencies in policy design. The UK also fell one place to third.

Overall, with four European countries on top of the list, Europe still leads the way in providing attractive conditions for investing in renewables.

Brazil rose to eigth from 13th, the biggest increase.

The US fell two ranks to ninth as a result of recent policy decisions issued from the federal government that drastically cut support for renewable energy policies.

Russia occupies the last place among the G20, while previously lagging countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey have made small improvements, rising to 16th and 15th respectively.

Professor Niklas Höhne, managing director of the NewClimate Institute, said: “Renewable energies in France, Germany and the UK are benefiting from good market and investment conditions in general, as well as from a largely positive political environment.

“However, there are still weaknesses even in the best-performing countries: France’s tenders for new plants, for example, do not have enough bidders, Germany’s investment in wind will drop due to new auctioning rules, and the solar energy market in the UK has collapsed following political reforms.”

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