Clean energy investment hits record $263B

Enlarge Image

A new Pew study pegs clean energy investments at $263 billion in 2011.

Global clean energy investment reached a record $263 billion in 2011, a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase, according to a new report by The Pew Charitable Trust.

The U.S. reclaimed the lead in private finance and investment in clean energy, attracting $48 billion last year, a 44 percent increase, according to the report, released late last week.

The Americas region registered a 21 percent increase in clean energy investment for a total $63.1 billion. Following the United States: Brazil with a 15 percent increase and Canada with a 4 percent increase.

“Clean energy investment, excluding research and development, has grown by 600 percent since 2004, on the basis of effective national policies that create market certainty,” Pyllis Cuttino, director of Pew’s Clean Energy Program, said in a news release. “This increase in investment is significant because it drives innovation, commercialization, manufacturing and installation of clean energy technologies that create new opportunities for innovators, entrepreneurs and workers alike.”

Dramatic price declines fueled activity in the solar sector. The price of solar modules dropped in half in the past 12 months. Investment in solar increased by 44 percent, attracting $128 billion and accounting for more than half of all clean energy investment in G-20 countries.

Read more in the Sacramento Business Journal.