High Capital Costs Limit Renewable Energy’s Global Climate Mitigation

High Capital Costs Limit Renewable Energy’s Global Climate Mitigation

A new global analysis has found that the climate benefits of renewable energy depend on a financial variable often hidden behind the headlines about solar panels, wind turbines and falling technology prices: the cost of capital. The study, published in Nature Communications by L. Hatton, G. Oluleye, M. Jansen and colleagues, argues that high financing costs can substantially weaken the emissions reductions delivered by renewable-energy deploymen…