VOLUME 28 / ISSUE 4 47
The relative costs of solar and wind
will fall well below those of coal and gas.
Clean (and dirty) energy prices vary
globally. Coal is costly in the U.K.
Green Technologies to
Grow More Affordable
Where Green Power Is
Cheapest Today
The Debt Market for
Sustainable Projects Has Exploded
Not Everyone Is Participating
In the New Energy Boom
Green bonds have driven sustainable debt issuance since 2012. Last year, financial,
corporate, and mortgage-backed issuers accounted for two-thirds of sales.
The number of U.S. solar jobs has climbed 159% since 2010, but women are
disproportionately left out of the clean energy workforce—and underpaid within it.
Sustainable debt financing issued
Solar labor
Levelized cost of electricity, 1H 2019
Cost of electricity generation
Total Green bond issuance by type
U.S. solar industry workforce U.S. workforce by gender Median hourly wage, U.S. solar
Men
Women
U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour
Wind
onshore
Coal
Combined cycle
gas turbine
PV (nontracking)
with storage
Utility-scale
battery
Photovoltaic
(nontracking)
Open-cycle gas
turbine
Nuclear
Wind onshore
with storage
Gas reciprocating
engine
Pumped
hydro
U.S. dollars per megawatt-hour, high estimates
U.S. U.K. China
0 $200 $400 0 $30b $60b
Green bonds
Green loans
Social bonds
Sustainability bonds
Sustainability-linked loans
Other
2012 2018
2012 2018
0
$29.19
$21.62
300k
0
50
100
200
150
$250b
’10 ’18
Oil and gas extraction
20%
Clean energy production
13%
Overall
47% women
C hina
U .S.
$70
$20
Project
U.S. municipal
Supranational
Government
agency
Corporate
Financial 0
Mortgage-
backed security
0
Sovereign 0
’19 ’50
Wind†
Solar*
Coal††
Gas††