Clean energy investment “down 53%”

New investment in clean energy fell by 53% in the first quarter of 2009 -- to US$13.3 billion -- compared with the same period last year, Reuters reported, citing data from the research group New Energy Finance.
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While the sector, including wind and solar power, has enjoyed more than fourfold growth in investment since 2004, global clean-energy investment fell for a third consecutive quarter, the data showed. Compared with the last three months of 2008, it was down 44% in the first three months of this year.

 

New Energy Finance said the sector was hit this year by “a severe shortage of bank finance for projects and the parlous state of overall stock-market confidence”, despite its medium- and long-term growth prospects.

 

Clean-energy investment reached US$155 billion in 2008, the group said, adding that only a very steep rise in the rest of 2009 would produce similar overall figures.