From Guest Blogger Tina Samuels: Who Best Funds the Green Movement?

The green movement is the nickname for “going green” in the United States as well as many other countries abroad.

There is only so much individuals and small businesses can do to improve their own carbon footprint, creating a need for funding to larger organizations for renewable resources and green energy.

In the past year, funding for renewable energy and similar topics has gone up to $257 billion. This means great things for the green movement. The study was released in a report at the end of 2012, by the UN Environment Program.

According to the report, funding for green energy is up by 44 percent, as opposed to the 34 percent in 2010 and only 10 percent in 2004.

Private Sector Investing

While there are different sources of funding for the green movement, the big dollars tend to come from private sector financing.

New technologies and the research and development of energy efficient technology is nearly double for funding from private sectors, as opposed to individuals, public and government funding sources. It does still fall short of traditional fuel resources, but thanks to this funding, it is gradually increasing.

Green Movement Across the Globe

The green movement isn’t just in the U.S., but across the globe.

Most of the private sector investors come from the U.S. and Europe, but the emerging economic in China and India have the biggest boost for renewable energy sources, as opposed to Europe or the United States.

China received more total funding in 2009 and 2011, with approximately $52 billion from various funding sources for their renewable energy. India had the fastest expansion in 2012, with an increase of 62 percent in capital funding for their renewable energy sources.

Lack of Renewable Source Funding

While these numbers seem large, overall there is still a lack of appropriate funding for renewable energy, or enough to be supplied to everyone across the globe.

Currently, only about 6 percent of the energy requirements in the world are generated by renewable sources. The clean technology companies are also stuck being reliant on the financial markets, which unfortunately do not include proper funding.

Some organizations involved in renewable energy technology are the Renewable Energy Finance Project in the United Kingdom, and the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index. Part of the problem is that private funding isn’t able to increase with the green movement unless there is some sort of renewable benefit. This is restricting new green technology to the bare minimum.

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels are still getting significantly more funding on a global level than renewable energy. While renewable are at $66 billion to date and it seems like a high number, fossil fuel funding is closer to $400 billion.

There are still commercial benefits and more subsidies existing for fossil fuels, which keeps investors focused on them instead of the green energy sources like renewable.

Looking to the future, the hope is that more organizations and private investors will donate funding to green and renewable energy campaigns to improve the green movement in the U.S. and globally.

About the Author: Tina Samuels writes on car seat boosters, social media, small business, and home improvement.