MORE investments in green technology must come - and soon - if the world is to have any chance of holding back drastic changes to the climate.

How much more?

Well, an average of US$2 trillion (S$2.95 trillion) is being spent now every year on research into clean, renewable energy that does not harm the environment.

But closer to US$45 trillion needs to be spent over the next 40 years to set up infrastructure to produce this renewable energy - and this sum does not include funds needed for research.

The $45 trillion figure, more than 300 times Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is the reckoning of Dr Dan Arvizu, the director of the US-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The money will pay for infrastructure to produce solar and wind energy, which are the environmentally friendly, renewable alternatives to burning fossil fuels to produce energy.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.