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New Investment Figures Confirm China as Emerging Global Leader

  • Publish Date: Posted almost 8 years ago

China is making ever greater strides in its bid to dominate the renewable energy industry by growing its financial investment level in green energy technologies in global markets to over $32 billion USD. This vastly exceeds the investment figures of any other country and represents an investment surge of 60pc from Beijing.

The figures prove that China is increasingly committing to low-carbon energy forms, even as Donald Trump makes threats about reducing US spending on renewables and revisiting fossil fuels.

China's government has put over $100 billion annually into green energy projects, which is over 200pc of the American figure. New figures also suggest that Chinese investment exceeds green energy finance from the US across the globe.

In 2016, Chinese firms invested over $1 billion into eleven outbound projects, totalling $32 billion. This compared to eight deals in the previous year for $20 billion, according to figures compiled by IEEFA. 

In fact, four out of the five largest green energy deals made across the world last year involved Chinese companies, and figures suggest that this is set to continue into 2017, regardless of the moves that the new US president chooses to make with regards to energy policy.

The biggest deal struck last year was the purchase of a controlling stake in one of the biggest renewable energy distributors in Brazil - CPFL Energia. The investment was made by China's State Grid Corporation and is expected to represent a whopping $13 billion once the deal is completed.

Mr Trump has said that he will retain an 'open mind' on the subject of energy policy. Before the election, he said he would remove America from the Paris Climate Change agreements and cancel green energy commitments if he became president.