BloombergNEF has published its Energy Transition Investment Trends 2024 which finds that global investment in the low-carbon energy transition surged 17% in 2023, to $1.8 trillion.
Other key findings include:
• Electrified transport is now the largest sector of spending in the energy transition, growing 36% in 2023 to $634 billion, overtaking the renewable energy sector, which grew 8% to $623 billion.
• Power grids investment was the third-largest contributor at $310 billion.
• There was also strong growth in emerging areas such as hydrogen (with investment tripling year on year), carbon capture and storage (near-doubling) and energy storage (up 76%).
• The largest country for investment by far was China, with $676 billion invested in 2023 – equivalent to 38% of the global total. The EU, US and UK together investee $718 billion in 2023. UK spending jumped 84% thanks to strong EV sales and renewable power investment. The EU posted 35% growth, and the US 22%.
• The current level of investment into clean energy technologies is not nearly sufficient to set the world on track for net zero by mid-century. Energy transition investment would need to average $4.8 trillion per year from 2024 to 2030. This is nearly three times the total investment observed in 2023.
• The UK would need to see nearly double the $72 billion spent on energy transition technologies in 2023, every year from 2024 to 2030 to align with the scenario.
• Investment in the global clean energy supply chain, including equipment factories and battery metals production for energy technologies, hit a new record at $135 billion in 2023 and is set to rise to $259 billion by 2025.
• $824 billion was raised in energy transition debt issuance, $84 billion in equity issuance
Meredith Annex, BNEF’s Head of Clean Power and co-author of the report, says, “Last year brought new records for global renewable energy investment. Strong growth in the US and Europe drove the global rise, even as China, the world’s largest renewables market, sputtered, recording an 11% drop. Despite a year of tough headlines, a record amount of offshore wind capacity also reached financial close.”
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