Global Landscape of Renewable Energy Finance 2023

The report Global Landscape of Renewable Energy Finance 2023 reveals that global investment in energy transition technologies last year—including energy efficiency—reached USD 1.3 trillion. It set a new record-high, up 19% from 2021 investment levels, and 50% from before the pandemic in 2019. The joint report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)—launched on the side-lines of the Spanish International Conference on Renewable Energy in Madrid—also finds that, although global investment in renewable energy reached a record high of USD 0.5 trillion in 2022, this still represents less than 40% of the average investment needed each year between 2021 and 2030, according to IRENA’s 1.5°C Scenario. Investments are also not on track to achieve the goals set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Comparing renewables financing across countries and regions, the report shows that glaring disparities have increased significantly over the last six years. About 70% of the world’s population, mostly residing in developing and emerging countries, received only 15% of global investments in 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa for example, received less than 1.5% of the amount invested globally between 2000 and 2020. In 2021, investment per capita in Europe was 127 times that in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 179 times more in North America. The report emphasises how lending to developing countries looking to deploy renewables must be reformed, and highlights the need for public financing to play a much stronger role, beyond mitigating investment risks. Recognising the limited public funds available in the developing world, the report calls for stronger international collaboration, including a substantial increase in financial flows from the Global North to the Global South.