[Two posts from last week on clean tech. With policy changes, investment has shrunk in the US, but the overall story is still of rapid growth globally.]
U.S. Policy Pullbacks Hurt—But Clean Power Still Leads
Renewables are still dominating new capacity in the U.S., whether policy helps or not.
An interesting snapshot from Deloitte shows the tension:
– Investment down 18% in first half 2025
– And yet, renewables delivered 93% of new capacity (3GW) thru September…with solar + storage making up 83%
Looking ahead to 2026, Deloitte sees a mixed bag:
– more focus on integration of storage
– more “capital discipline”, prioritizing mature assets, less on early-stage projects
– more strategic M&A
So yes…when the gov’t pulls support, investment in the clean economy drops. But renewables remain the fastest, cheapest ways to add power, which the grid needs as datacenter energy demand explodes.
The build-out will continue. US policy just seems designed to make it harder and more expensive.
The $5 trillion global clean tech market
Clean tech is a $5 trillion business TODAY — and the 2nd-fastest growing sector after tech.
A new WEF-BCG report (“Already a Multi-trillion-dollar Market”) says we’re headed to $7 trillion by 2030.
Other findings:
– China leads by a lot.
– More surprising: nearly 20% of spending is now for adaptation, or “advanced cooling systems, resilient construction materials, and flood management solutions.”
So call it $4 trillion in transition and $1 trillion in dealing with impacts (so far).*
It’s a big, fast-moving market. In other words, a great investment.
[*Side note: This is a perfect example of the problem with GDP as a measure of anything. One-fifth of clean economy ‘growth’ is because we didn’t transition earlier.]
Other Recent Posts
The debate over absolute vs. intensity metrics for carbon emissions
HSBC survey shows that corporate/investor sustainability is not fading
[Image: ChatGPT from my prompts. That is ‘blustery politician’ not anyone in particular.]
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