Clean energy investments declined 12.1% last year to $254 billion due to the reduced cost of photovoltaic systems and changes in investor confidence as a result of US and European policy changes. In fact, European investments fell 40.9% to $57.8 billion. China, the largest investor, reduced its investments for the first time in more than 10 years, with a 3.8% drop to $61.3 billion. US investments declined 8.4% to $48.4 billion. In contrast, Japan’s investments rose 55.9% to $35.4 billion. Investments in solar energy fell 19.7% to $114.7 billion, biomass and waste-to-energy investments declined 42.0% to $8 billion, and investments in biofuels decreased 25.8% to $4.9 billion. However, investments in energy smart technologies (smart grid, storage, electric vehicles, efficiency) grew 5.8% to $34.6 billion. Public market investments jumped 168.8% to $12.9 billion due in part to Mighty River Power’s IPO. Also increasing was government R&D, which rose 10.0% to $14.3 billion. However, corporate R&D fell 5.7% to $14.9 billion. Venture capital and private equity investments fell 32.8% to $4.3 billion.

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance