Investments in the low-carbon energy transition globally increased by 11% and reached a record $2.1 trillion in 2024.
These data are provided by the authors of the annual report of the research company BloombergNEF “Investment Trends in the Energy Transition to 2025”.
Analysts say that the growth drivers are:
- electrified transportation;
- renewable energy;
- power grids;
- investments in energy storage.
Last year, they reached new highs.
At the same time, the researchers noted that although the total volume of investments in energy transition technologies set a new record, the growth rate was slower than in the previous three years, when investments grew by 24-29% annually.
Electrified transportation remained the largest investment driver. It reached $757 billion in 2024. This figure includes spending on passenger electric vehicles, electric two- and three-wheelers, commercial electric vehicles, public charging infrastructure, and fuel cell vehicles.
Investments in renewable energy reached $728 billion, which includes investments in wind (both onshore and offshore), solar, biofuels, biomass and waste, offshore, geothermal, and small hydro.
Investments in the power grid amounted to $390 billion. This figure includes investments in transmission and distribution lines, substation equipment, and grid digitalization.
Global investment in the clean energy transition by sector
Source: BloombergNEF
The leader in investment is China
According to the report, the largest market for investment last year was mainland China, which accounted for $818 billion in investments. This is 20% more than in 2023. Investment growth in China accounted for two-thirds of the total global increase for the year. Moreover, all sectors covered in the report showed a steady increase.
The EU, the US, and the UK, which were the driving forces behind growth in 2023, showed different results in 2024. Investments in the US remained unchanged at $338 billion. In the EU and the UK, they fell to $381 billion and $65.3 billion, respectively.
China's total investment last year was higher than the total investment of the US, EU and UK combined. Of the large markets included in the report, India and Canada also contributed to overall global growth, increasing their investments by 13% and 19%, respectively.
Developed vs. emerging clean energy sectors
In their report, BNEF analysts noted a noticeable difference between investments in developed and emerging sectors of the clean energy economy. Thus, proven, commercially scalable technologies with established business models – renewables, energy storage, electric vehicles, and power grids – accounted for the vast majority of investments in 2024.
These sectors attracted $1.93 trillion, an increase of 14.7%, despite the obstacles of political decisions, higher interest rates, and an expected slowdown in consumer spending.
In contrast, investments in new technologies such as electrified heat, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), nuclear power, clean industry, and environmentally friendly shipping reached only $155 billion. They showed an overall drop of 23% compared to the previous year.
Factors holding back investment in these sectors include:
- affordability
- technology maturity;
- commercial scalability.
According to BNEF experts, in order to scale these industries, the public and private sectors need to make more efforts to reduce the risks of these technologies, “otherwise they are unlikely to have a significant impact on emissions by the end of the decade.”
Earlier, EcoPolitic published a list of countries and regions leading the world's bioenergy industry.
