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04 INVESTMENT FLOWS
Global new investment in renewable power and fuels (not
including hydropower projects >50 MW) was USD 285.9 billion in
2015, as estimated by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) i .
This represents a rise of 5% compared to the previous year and
exceeds the previous record of USD 278.5 billion achieved in
2011 ii . Investment in renewable power and fuels has exceeded
USD 200 billion per year for the past six years. (p See Figure 35.)
Including investments in hydropower projects larger than 50 MW,
total new investment in renewable power and fuels was at
least USD 328.9 billion in 2015 iii . 1 Note that these estimates
do not include investment in renewable heating and cooling
technologies. ( R See Reference Tables R14.)
In 2015, global investment in new renewable power capacity
(excluding hydropower >50 MW), at USD 265.8 billion iv , was
more than double the USD 130 billion allocated to new coal- and
natural gas-fired generation capacity. This represents the largest
difference in favour of renewables to date. If hydropower projects
>50 MW are considered, the spread between renewables and
fossil fuel investment in new power capacity is even greater.
Figure 35. Global New Investment in Renewable Power and Fuels, Developed, Emerging and Developing Countries,
2005–2015
Billion USD
300
250
World total
Developed countries
China, India & Brazil
Other developing countries
239
279
257
234
273
286
billion USD
200
150
100
73
112
83
154
108
182 179
123
60
114
64
164
75
191
87
151
106
136
98
142
131
130
156
Source:
BNEF,
see footnotes
i and iii for
this section.
50
20
53
29
46
9
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
04
Does not include investment in hydropower > 50 MW
i This chapter is derived from UNEP’s Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016 (Frankfurt: 2016), the sister publication to the GSR, prepared
by the Frankfurt School–UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance (FS-UNEP) in co-operation with BNEF. Data are based
on the output of the desktop database of BNEF, unless otherwise noted, and reflect the timing of investment decisions. The following renewable energy
projects are included: all biomass and waste-to-energy, geothermal and wind generation projects of more than 1 MW; all hydropower projects of between
1 and 50 MW; all solar power projects, with those less than 1 MW estimated separately and referred to as small-scale projects or small distributed capacity;
all ocean energy projects; and all biofuel projects with an annual production capacity of 1 million litres or more. For more information, please refer to
the FS-UNEP/BNEF Global Trends report. Where totals do not add up, the difference is due to rounding.
ii Note that declining costs of some renewable energy technologies (particularly solar PV and wind power) have a decremental impact on total investment
(all else being equal). Thus, growth in investment (monetary) does not reflect actual growth in installed renewable power capacity.
iii Investment in large hydropower (>50 MW) is not included in the overall total for investment in renewable energy. BNEF tracks only hydropower projects
of between 1 MW and 50 MW, but it does make estimates for hydro >50 MW.
iv This number is for renewable power asset finance and small-scale projects. It differs from the overall total for renewable energy investment (USD 285.9 billion)
provided elsewhere in this chapter because it excludes biofuels and some types of noncapacity investment, such as equity-raising on public markets and
development R&D.
RENEWABLES 2016 · GLOBAL STATUS REPORT
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