The table below lists the leading countries in terms of the amount of energy generated in coal-fired power plants. The list shows that between 2000 and 2011 the amount of energy produced in this type of power plant increased; which was caused by most of the countries listed in the table. Among countries that have reduced production biggest quantitative decline occurred in the US - 250 billion kWh, but it was only a decrease of about 12%. The amount of energy generated from this source in the European Union as a whole has decreased by a similar value. However, in this case, the entry of new states should be taken into account, so despite the EU enlargement, the energy generated in coal power plants dropped. Spain contributed to this most, reducing power generation by 44%. The smallest percentage decrease occurred in Australia - 1%, and in none of the countries it look comparable as well as in Spain. Thus, the total increase in generated energy amounted to - 3101 billion kWh, of which the majority of 2660 billion kWh was produced in China. The highest percentage increases occurred in Vietnam 571%, Malaysia 589%, China 251% and Indonesia 138%. It is clear that new coal power plants have been build. Total carbon dioxide emissions in the countries listed in the table in the years 2000 - 2011 amounted to 274 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. In 2011, it was 27,232 million tonnes, of which just 5,300 million came from production. China has the biggest share of carbon dioxide emission in production processes.
The Kyoto Protocol exempted developing countries from commitments to reduce greenhouse gases, hence foreign investment could have an impact on the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. The correlation between foreign investment and total emission is significant, and results from it that in about 50% they had an impact on emission increase. The correlation between investments and emissions from production is smaller. Direct investment is evenly distributed between countries where there has been a decline in energy production at coal-fired power plants and in those where there has been an increase. Among the twelve countries in which the share of energy production from coal-fired power plants is higher than 50%, direct investment accounted for about a quarter of the investment in the entire group of countries in the table. However, emissions in these countries, mainly due to the Chinese economy, accounted for about half of the total. In fourteen countries, there has been a more than fifty percent increase in energy production in coal-fired power plants. The largest quantitative increase after China was in India - 328 billion kWh and South Korea - 113 billion kWh. Among these fourteen countries, direct investment amounted to 5.27 trillion in 2000-2011 - 45% of the sum for all these countries.
neIn countries that ultimately produced less than 40% of energy in 2011 by burning coal, which could be perceived as ecology leaders (excluding Russia), the downward trend did not strengthen. The change compared to 2000 was negative - an increase of 84 billion kWh. Most of the eleven countries reached the position of such leaders before 2000. Four of them fell. The total amount of investment in 2000-2011 among the countries of the 'malcontent leaders' amounted to 2.89 trillion. Of which the largest percentage share in investments in the world has accumulated in the Philippines - 14%. In Great Britain, where the decline continued, direct investment accounted for 7.5%, while in Canada and Spain, where the largest decrease was, 3.4% and 3.1% were invested, respectively. The data set shows that there is a large correlation between the total energy produced and the emission. This correlation is greater than between the amount of energy generated in coal power plants and emissions. This shows that alternative forms of energy production by these countries are not always associated with reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The table presents alternative sources - nuclear energy and hydroelectric power plants, which accounted for approximately 12% of the energy generated for the entire group of these countries. In the case of Australia and Russia, of which the first of the countries produces more energy in coal-fired power plants, Russia emitted more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2011. As a result, in 2000-2011 these countries emitted a total of 274 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. This was combined with an increase in energy production in coal-fired power plants by about 50%. The following tables list the countries by region. They compare: the value of public investments in renewable energy; share of renewable energy in total generated; carbon dioxide emissions and foreign direct investment.
In Africa, the share of renewable energy in total generation is very diverse - the standard deviation is 37.98. Of the 35 countries, Table 11 has a share of over 70%. Direct investment in these countries in 2007-2015 amounted to USD 115 290.10 million, which accounted for 30.89% in all countries. At the same time, these eleven countries emitted only 4.27% of total carbon dioxide, or 404.72 million tonnes. Public investment in renewable energy for these leading countries amounted to $ 4.42 billion, of which nearly $ 3 billion was invested in Kenya, which resulted in over 31% investment share for all African countries in the table. Sixteen countries have a share of renewable energy in total below 25%, among them are countries where this share is zero but also very low emissions due to the fact that they are small economies. All sixteen, however, emitted most of the carbon dioxide over the given period - almost 94% - 8.85 billion tonnes. Of this, about half South Africa, followed by Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria. On the other hand, foreign investments reached the value of over 230 billion dollars and constituted 61% of investments in the whole group. Public expenditure on alternative energy sources amounted to USD 8.71 billion for this sixteen and accounted for approximately 61% of the total. For this group of countries, however, it was 26 times less money than direct investment. In South Africa 19 times less, Egypt 69, Algeria 17 and Nigeria 164 times less. For comparison, Kenya invested in renewable energy at that time only 4 times less than it accumulated foreign investment. Morocco became a leader in terms of public funds invested, spending USD 3.07 billion at that time. This country was among the biggest emitters. Countries with a high share of renewable energy that have accumulated the most foreign investment are Mozambique 28.55 billion and DR Congo 17.75 billion - while emitting 49 million tonnes of CO2. During this time, the largest direct investments in the second group of countries were accumulated by Nigeria 58 billion and Egypt 55 billion dollars - emitting 2.72 billion tonnes, which is 55 times more.
In Europe the diversity in terms of the share of renewable energy in the total is smaller than in Africa - the standard deviation is 28.2. In four countries only, this share is higher than 70%: Albania, Austria, Iceland and Norway in 2015. In addition, three countries with a share of over 60% could be included among the leaders in terms of clean energy. Foreign investment in these countries amounted to USD 34.98 billion, which accounted for 9% of the total. Public investment in these countries amounted to USD 8 billion, which accounted for 16% of the total, at the same time 58 times more direct investments were made in these countries, it was 105 for all. A group of these seven countries emitted 2.09 billion tonnes, which accounted for 5.86% of total emissions, which amounted to over 35 billion tonnes - about 4 times more than in Africa. Fourteen European countries produced less than 25% of energy from renewable sources. They emitted over 17 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which constituted 48% of the total. The largest emitters in this group included: Ukraine, Great Britain, Poland, the Netherlands and France. All fourteen spent on renewable energy 49% of all countries' money, accumulating 53% of all foreign investments, but the amount was 113 times greater than public money spent on renewable energy. Eighty times more direct investments were made compared to African countries in relation to public expenditure on renewable energy. In the countries with the highest emissions, the share of renewable energy ranges from 4% - Ukraine to 38% - Italy.
In Asia is similar variation in the share of renewable energy in total generated as in Africa - the standard deviation is 35. It is, however, the region in which public investments in renewable energy were smallest compared to incoming capital from abroad. Investments in this energy were more than 470 times lower than direct investments. It was because of three countries, including China, where the mentioned public expenditure was 4801 times lower than foreign investment. In Malaysia it was similar to China, with 1863 times less money spent on clean energy than it came from abroad. Six out of twenty-two countries in the table achieved the share of renewable energy in total generation over 70% in 2015. They spent $ 2.67 billion on this purpose, which accounted for 11% of total expenditure. Only a little over 1 promil of all money in the region was invested in these countries at the same time. In China, 833 times more, than in these six, money was invested, and less was spent on renewable energy - USD 2.15 billion.
Redirecting foreign investment to countries whose economy is not driven by coal to greener economies could help in the fight against global warming. However, it is difficult to imagine such a market mechanism that would allow reduce emission enough in a short period of time not reaching the critical point of global warming - beyond which the change will become irreversible. Public and private budgets are needed to fight the global climate. Investors encouraged to do so could make part of this budget. Dynamic economic development led to a surge in electricity demand. The main source of energy remained fossil fuels, therefore, carbon dioxide emissions increased sharp to 32 Gt (billions tonnes) in 2017.
Although road vehicles account for around 20% of emissions, it goes into the atmosphere mainly during the day and contributes much locally and regionally to excessive carbon dioxide concentration and temperature rise. Fuel consumption standards are the means used to reduce these emissions. The European Union has established that in the years 2020-2021 the average emission of a passenger car of the produced fleet cannot exceed 95g CO2 / km, which corresponds to 4.1l / 100km for a gasoline vehicle and 3.6l / 100km for a diesel. Due to the continuous increase in the number of cars, this will not help to decrease total emissions and generally has little effect. Only replacing motor vehicles with electric ones that will be charged from the renewable energy grid has the chance to reduce total emissions. The policy objective should be to increase the number of electric cars. Many countries are subsidizing the purchase of electric cars. Any motor vehicle can, however, be converted to electric cheaper than purchase a new one. If it were widespread, it could significantly help reduce the negative impact of road traffic on the climate.
Union of Concerned Scientists research proved that EV are efficient