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An International Energy Agency Newsletter
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Welcome back to Energy Snapshot, the International Energy Agency’s monthly newsletter focused on charts and data. In today’s edition, we dig into global energy investment trends.
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The past decade has been one of turbulence and change for the global energy sector, bringing developments like the rapid growth of new energy technologies, the shockwaves of the Covid pandemic, and the turmoil of the 2022 energy crisis.
The latest edition of our World Energy Investment report, which is also its 10th, looks at how investment in energy has changed over that 10 year period – with global energy spending rising more than 20% since 2015 to reach $3.3 trillion.
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One of the clearest trends that emerges is the strong increase in spending on energy transitions, especially in the past five years. This was kicked off by post-pandemic recovery packages and then sustained by a variety of economic, technology, industrial and energy security considerations – not only by climate policies.
Investment data also signals that a new Age of Electricity is drawing nearer. A decade ago, investments in fossil fuels were 30% higher than those in electricity generation, grids and storage. This year, electricity investments are set to be some 50% above the total amount spent bringing oil, natural gas and coal to market.
The breakdown of investment in the electricity sector has also shifted significantly since 2015.
Globally, spending on low-emissions power generation and batteries has more than doubled over the past 10 years. The biggest driver is investment in solar PV, which is set to be more than three times higher in 2025 than it was a decade ago despite continued reductions in costs.
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At the same time, investment in grids is increasing but needs to accelerate further. Spending on grids has risen to more than $400 billion a year. However, growth has been slow compared with investment in electricity generation, and it has not kept pace with surging electricity demand.
Maintaining electricity security amid rising electricity use requires a rapid increase in spending on grids, moving it towards parity with the amount spent on electricity generation. However, this is being held back by lengthy permitting procedures, by tight supply chains for transformers and cables, and – especially in developing economies – by the poor financial condition of many utilities.
Our report also analyses how much different economies are investing in energy. The first World Energy Investment report in 2015 showed China just edging ahead of the United States. Today, China is by far the world’s largest overall energy investor, spending twice as much on energy as the European Union – and almost as much as the EU and United States combined.
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To learn more about today’s energy investment trends, read the press release and full World Energy Investment 2025 report. You can also watch the launch event with our Executive Director Fatih Birol and the report’s lead authors, who discussed the main takeaways. And check out our interactive data explorer, which enables users to compare energy investments across multiple sectors, fuels and technologies.
We also recommend subscribing to our podcast, Everything Energy. We just released a new episode on energy investment featuring Cecilia Tam, the head of our Energy Investment Unit. You can listen here.
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We’ll be back in your inboxes with more charts based on IEA data and analysis in July.
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