A report by think-tank Carbon Tracker showed that the value of share offerings in fossil fuel companies had been down 20% since 2012. In contrast, that of low-carbon companies gained traction amid the transition to clean energy. The report said that in 2012-2020 investors purchased nearly $640 billion of equities from fossil fuel producers, utilities, pipelines, and service companies. However, investments in these sectors have lost about $123 billion or nearly 20% in value, although equity markets were bullish during much of that period.
In contrast, investors bought $56 billion in equity issued low-carbon energy companies, which has increased by $77 billion in value, the report said. During the same period, renewables and clean technology sectors outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index by nearly 54%. Meanwhile, fossil fuel and related equity issuances underperformed the MSCI ACWI by 52%.
Despite rising equity value by clean-energy companies, funding a global energy transition needs even much more investments, the report said. Industry experts and scientists estimated that it needed $3 trillion to $5 trillion investments a year in the clean energy sector to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
