Energy Investment

This book examines the technical, market, and policy innovations for unlocking sustainable investment in the energy sector. While finalizing this book, the COVID-19 pandemic is cutting a devastating swath through the global economy, causing the biggest fall in energy sector investment, exacerbating the global trade finance gap, worsening signs of growing income inequality, and devastating the health and livelihoods of millions.

This is more than just interesting data, however. It is a powerful market signal to the arrival of an alternative future for today’s fossil-fuel dominated energy markets. Signals move markets, and the signal these investment numbers make is that markets are becoming more liquid, more globalised and more mainstream. This is full-scale industrial development, not just a tweaking of the energy system. The challenge now for governments, energy planners and policy makers is to build off of this positive market dynamic, turning near-term advances into long-term frameworks and continued sector growth. These signals are particularly important for governments beginning to consider the next round of climate negotiations. Climate change generates a lot of discussion about the “technologies of tomorrow”. The data in this report clearly shows that the fi nance sector believes the technologies of today can and will “decarbonise” the energy mix.

As societies face the challenge of securing an efficient and environmentally sound energy supply, researchers have strived to determine the future development of energy consumption, infrastructure and technology endowment.

This report presents the financial perspective, or 'dollar view', of the current state of play in sustainable energy development. The analysis in this report consists of actual data on the different types of capital flows and their movement over time, combined with analysis of regional and sectoral trends. This information is intended to be a strategic tool for understanding the status of the clean energy sector's development and for weighing future public and private commitments to the sector.