Bloomberg: Global Energy Transition Investment Up 17% in 2023

BloombergNEF (BNEF), the research and analysis department of Bloomberg, published a report entitled “Energy Transition Investment Trends 2024,” which analyzes in detail the current situation and prospects for the energy transition in the world. In 2023, global investment in low-carbon energy grew 17% over 2022 results to $1770 billion. The driving force behind this surge in investment were innovative renewable energy sectors, from electric vehicles to clean hydrogen and the installation of carbon capture and storage systems.

Electric vehicles, from cars to buses to commercial vehicles, were the top sector for global investment last year, growing 36% to $634 billion compared to 2022. Overall, global investment in the renewable energy sector grew a further 8% last year to $623 billion. In third place was the infrastructure and innovative power grid sector, which attracted $310 billion in investment in 2023. Finally, clean energy supply chain investments totaled $135 billion in 2023, and BloombergNEF analysts believe this figure could rise to $259 billion by 2025.

“Last year marked new records for global investment in renewable energy,” said Meredith Annex, BNEF’s Clean Energy Manager and co-author of the report.

Globally, in 2023, China was the country that invested the most in clean and renewable energy, an astronomical figure of $676 billion, representing 38% of investment worldwide. The report, however, notes that Chinese investment fell 11% last year compared to 2022 results. The troika of the European Union, the UK, and the USA invested $718 billion in the energy transition last year. In the U.S., investment rose 22% last year to $303 billion, a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, a law passed in 2022 to reduce inflation, which leads to meeting climate goals set by the Paris Agreement while helping to spur innovative technologies.

Finally, the report praises the efforts of Brazil, the sixth country in the world and the first in Latin America to invest the most in the energy transition. According to the report, this Latin American country invested $34.8 billion in new energy in 2023. “Brazil is seen as the main protagonist of the energy transition, especially in the Global South of the world. We will continue to maintain this leadership by promoting equitable and inclusive energy transition. We expect to increase investment in the coming years, for example in the national hydrogen program, where investment will triple,” said Brazil’s Minister of Mines, Alexandre Silveira, following the publication of the BNEF report.