The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that China surpassed the United States last year as the country with the most clean energy investment. We have heard a lot of talk from Obama and other US politicians that the US wants to be a leader in the clean energy economy. Yet it seems unlikely that we will be leading countries like China that now have nearly double the clean energy investment that the US has.
The LA Times piece, citing a Pew Charitable Trust report, says that US clean energy investments were $18.6 billion last year, compared with China's $34.6 billion. And the reason for the US falling behind? According to the Pew Charitable Trust report one leading factor is "a lack of national mandates [in the US] for renewable energy production or a surcharge on greenhouse gas emissions that would make fossil fuels more expensive."
It seems like the US better Get to Work if they want to keep up. But the Chinese, and Indians for that matter, are not likely to start slowing in their drive towards clean energy. In other words, the race is on.
And it's not just business and governments getting in on this race — youth are leading the charge as well. In just a few weeks time we will be launching a new project specifically on this theme: the Great Power Race. Stay tuned.
To sum up, Tracy Wolstencroft, global head of Environmental Markets at Goldman Sachs, says it well, "The U.S. is one runner, China is a runner, India is a runner, Europe is a runner… This isn't just a competition against each other. We're in a global race to solve the problem."