This marks the 10th anniversary of Climatescope, BNEF’s annual assessment of energy transition opportunities. For the first time, the project has expanded its scope to include activity not just in clean power but in the decarbonization of the transportation and buildings sectors. Climatescope represents the collective effort of over 40 BNEF analysts who gather detailed data on 136 markets globally, including 107 emerging markets and 29 developed nations.

In 2020, emerging markets continued to lead the global energy transition. No less than 70% of all new renewable power capacity built occurred in these jurisdictions. While deployment of electric vehicles and electric heat pumps remains small, wind and solar are the lowest-cost option for new generation in most of these quickly growing economies.

Covid-19 in 2020 did not dampen investor enthusiasm globally for the energy transition as total capital deployed hit yet another high. The pandemic did appear to prompt investors to focus on traditionally lowerrisk nations, however. Energy transition capital deployed in emerging markets dropped 10% year-on-year. For the first time since 2018, these jurisdictions accounted for the minority of total energy transition funds deployed. Given the large and growing CO2 footprints of these markets, the investment dip represents a worrying trend.

Global energy transition investment jumped in 2020, despite the pandemic, but investors’ attention shifted to developed markets.

Source: BloombergNEF

For downloading the report, please click here.