This one chart shows just how much China dominates in renewable energy

, Chief Europe Correspondent
Source: BNEF Emerging Markets Energy Investments Outlook 2024 • Renewables investments include: onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, biofuels, biomass and water, marine, geothermal and hydropower (for projects up to 50 megawatts).

China attracted almost half of all global renewable energy investments last year, according to a recent report out from BloombergNEF focused on emerging economies. 

The country actually saw a dip in green investments in 2023 compared to 2022, but China still overwhelmingly dominated capital deployment in the sector. It captured 41% of the global renewables investment share in 2023.

 The United States, meanwhile, boosted its renewables investment by 73% last year compared to 2022, yet remained in distant second place in investment. (Paradoxically, China is also the world’s leading consumer of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.) 

Overall, investments in renewables increased 133% in China from 2019 to 2023. The growth rate globally in the same period was 88% and just 66% for high-income economies, according to the report. 

With the energy transition facing headwinds under the incoming presidency of Donald Trump, analysts will watch closely to see if China grabs an even bigger slice of such investments and, in fact, steps into a larger cleantech role on the world stage, as Cipher reported.