Investment in renewable energy last year rose to another record, BloombergNEF estimates, approaching half a trillion dollars for the first time.
Solar investment jumped 36% year-on-year to $308 billion and is estimated to have installed 260 gigawatts of new capacity in 2022. Investment in the second-largest sector, wind, stayed roughly stable at $175 billion, held back by slow procedures for securing permission to build on land and connect to the grid, especially in Europe and North America.
China made up 55% of the world’s renewable energy investment, putting $164 billion into new solar farms and $109 billion into new wind farms. The US was the next largest single market, at nearly $50 billion. The European Union countries invested just $39 billion, down 10% from 2021 despite a strong rise in solar.
While these investment figures are the highest ever, they fall short of BNEF estimates of what is needed to be on track for global net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Track investment in the energy transition. Read the 2023 edition of our Energy Transition Investment Trends.
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