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. While we tend to think of the investments in renewables and biofuels as staggering, it's pocket change compared to the money governments worldwide spend to support fossil fuels. That bit of disheartening news comes courtesy of new research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). BNEF's preliminary analysis says worldwide government spending on renewables and biofuels topped out at $43-46 billion in 2009 — less than a tenth of the $557 billion spent to subsidize fossil fuels in 2008, according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency last month. "One of the reasons the clean energy sector is starved of funding is because mainstream investors worry that renewable energy works only with direct government support," said Michael Liebreich, BNEF's chief executive. However, the analysis did note that the disparity should narrow quite a bit in 2010 because support for clean energy will grow as the spending of $188 billion in global stimulus funds accelerates, and because government spending to keep fossil fuel prices artificially low has dropped as oil prices backed off from their peaks in mid-2008.
Quick Take: There's a little consolation in the knowledge that the U.S. is the leader in direct support for clean energy to the tune of about $18.2 billion in 2009. About 40% of that amount was invested in biofuels and the remainder in renewables.
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