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Global Cleantech Investment 2024

Total energy investment worldwide is expected to exceed $3tn in 2024 for the first time, with an expected $2tn to be spent on clean technologies and infrastructure including renewables, electric vehicles (EVs), nuclear power, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps.
“Clean energy investment is setting new records, even in challenging economic conditions, highlighting the momentum behind the new global energy economy. For every dollar going to fossil fuels today, almost two dollars are invested in clean energy,” said International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol.
“The rise in clean energy spending is underpinned by strong economics, by continued cost reductions and by considerations of energy security. But there is a strong element of industrial policy too, as major economies compete for advantage in new clean energy supply chains.”
China is set to account for the largest share of clean energy investment in 2024, reaching an estimated $675bn. This results from strong domestic demand across three industries in particular – solar, lithium batteries and EVs.
Europe and the US follow, with clean energy investment of $370bn and $315bn respectively. These three major economies alone make up more than two-thirds of global clean energy investment.
But while the figures suggest ramping-up investment in low-carbon energy, the amount spent on oil and gas is still too high to meet 2050 climate goals. Global upstream oil and gas investment is expected to increase by 7% in 2024 to reach $570bn, following a similar rise in 2023. The growth in spending in 2023 and 2024 is predominantly by national oil companies in the Middle East and Asia.
Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Oxford have calculated that around 7-9 billion tonnes of CO2 per year will need to be removed by mid-century from the atmosphere if the world is to meet the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target. The authors stress that while reducing emissions is the primary way to achieve net zero, carbon dioxide removal has a critical role to play.
A central and on-going issue concerns the low level of clean energy spending in emerging and developing economies outside of China, where the high cost of capital for such countries is holding back the development of new projects.
IEA’s Birol adds, “More must be done to ensure that investment reaches the places where it is needed most, in particular the developing economies where access to affordable, sustainable and secure energy is severely lacking today.”