Renewable investment surges in emerging economies, BNEF study finds

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
India joined China, Brazil, Chile and south Africa in the top five most attractive markets. Source: IBC Solar

Investment in clean energy surged in emerging economies during 2014, the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Climatescope report has found.

According to BNEF, 2014 was the first year that more than half of all investment in renewable energy was for projects based in emerging economies.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The Climatescope study monitors investment in 55 developing countries including Brazil, Mexico, India and China. The latest release tallied clean energy investment worth US$126 billion during 2014, up 39% on 2013 levels. Investment between emerging economies accounted for US$79 billion.

The financing equated to 50.4GW of new generating capacity with China responsible for 35GW of this.

Climatescope also issues an investment attractiveness index with China comfortably at the top. Brazil, Chile, South Africa and India, respectively, make up the rest of the top five. With runaway economic growth in China and Brazil cooling, the report notes that the levels achieved are even more impressive.

India’s states were also individually ranked with all well behind the national government’s score. West Bengal, the lowest ranked state, had a score lower than Ethiopia. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were the top two Indian states.

The study, which is supported by the UK and US governments, considers each country’s policy framework and electricity market, the existing clean energy value chain, the cost of finance and the robustness of efforts to reduce emissions. The full dataset can be downloaded from BNEF.

21 May 2025
London, UK
The Renewables Procurement & Revenues Summit serves as the European platform for connecting renewable energy suppliers to the future of energy demand. This includes bringing together a community of European off-takers, renewable generators, utilities, asset owners, and financiers. The challenges ahead are complex, but through collaboration, innovation, and a shared vision, we can navigate uncertainties and forge a sustainable energy future. Let us harness our collective knowledge to advance the renewable energy agenda.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

April 16, 2025
US residential solar company Complete Solaria will change its name to SunPower, resurrecting the name of one of the US- longest-running solar companies which folded last year.
April 16, 2025
Europe completed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 1.6GW of renewable energy capacity in March, according to Pexapark.
April 16, 2025
The world invested US$300 million into the off-grid solar sector in 2024, a 30% year-on-year decline in total funding, according to GOGLA.
April 15, 2025
Renewable energy will need policy support to reach “economically optimal” levels for the global energy transition, according to BloomberNEF.
April 15, 2025
Korean chemical firm OCI Holdings has reportedly paused public listing plans for its Malaysian polysilicon business amid global stock market uncertainty.
April 14, 2025
US renewable energy company Sunraycer Renewables has closed a US$475 million project financing facility for two solar-plus-storage projects in Texas.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
April 23, 2025
Fortaleza, Brazil
Solar Media Events
April 29, 2025
Dallas, Texas
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
May 7, 2025
Munich, Germany
Solar Media Events
May 21, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
June 17, 2025
Napa, USA