Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Renewable energy investments worldwide - statistics & facts
Investment in the energy transition amounted to 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, surpassing the investment in fossil fuels for the first time. Renewable energy technologies accounted for nearly half of that amount, reaching almost 500 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Renewable investments have grown rapidly in the last years; however, it is estimated that they need to quadruple to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C by 2050. The power sector accounts for most of the investments in renewable technologies, while end-use sectors, including renewable heat generation, contribute to a much smaller share. Regionally, China is by far the largest contributor to renewable energy investments worldwide, with more than 137 billion U.S. dollars invested in 2021, and is followed by Europe, which contributed almost 80 billion that same year.
Solar energy investments
In 2022, more than 60 percent of the investment in renewable technologies came from solar, including photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. Solar PV investments alone almost reached 300 billion U.S. dollars. In recent years, solar photovoltaic investments have grown significantly, coinciding with the decrease in the cost of this technology, which dropped from 0.42 U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to 0.05 in 2021. Solar PV was also the renewable technology with the largest share of private investors with more than 80 percent of the total investment 2020, indicating its viability and competitiveness. In the off-grid space, solar is the dominant technology. In 2022, investment in off-grid solar companies reached almost 745 billion U.S. dollars.Wind energy investments
Wind energy investments, including onshore and offshore, amounted to roughly 174 billion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2022. That translates into approximately 35 percent of the total global renewable investments. Onshore investments account for roughly 80 percent of the total wind investments, but investment in offshore technologies has grown rapidly in the last years, doubling in 2020 and maintaining a similar level until 2022. As with renewable energy in general, China was the leading country for wind energy investments in 2021, reaching some 67 billion U.S. dollars.
