Full Title: Climatescope 2014: Mapping the Global Frontiers for Clean Energy Investment
Author(s): Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Publisher(s): Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Publication Date: October 1, 2014
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Description (excerpt):
For years, it has been widely accepted that only the world’s wealthiest nations have the means to enjoy the benefits of zero- carbon emitting sources of energy. Developing nations, it was assumed, could afford only fossil generation. This belief guided numerous investment decisions and policies. It has even shaped the dynamics of international climate talks.
But green technologies have come a long way, and clean energy technologies are no longer out of reach for developing countries, which are home to some of the most extraordinary wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, large and small hydro, and other natural resources. In many cases, insufficient energy access has meant high reliance on accessible but dirty fossil fuels. Reliance on diesel generation in many developing countries results in some of the poorest nations having some of the most expensive electricity in the world, making the economic case for alternative sources of power often quite compelling. And in the least developed nations, where hundreds of millions of people have little or no access to electricity, cleaner energy as a distributed source of power is often the obvious choice over extending traditional hub- and-spoke transmission networks or local diesel generators.