Global energy investments, consumption skyrocket By EPN Staff Worldwide investment in electrification and renewable, carbon-free and alternative energies hit a record $2.1 trillion in 2024, an 11% increase from the year before, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s annual sector review. China accounted for two-thirds of the global increase, investing more than the United States, European Union and United Kingdom combined, the report states. Yet China also was set to consume more coal than any other nation and drive a global coal consumption record, while the U.S. appeared to lead natural gas consumption to a global record in 2024. Why it matters Global energy spending and consumption are skyrocketing as access expands to new populations, emerging economies develop and higher-intensity applications, such as data centers, require greater generation. 2024 is the first year in which annual spending on carbon-free energy, electric vehicles and other non-fossil fuel technologies topped $2 trillion, though the rate of increase slowed from the boom years of 2021 through 2023, BloombergNEF said. Growth was driven by spending on electrified transport, renewable energy and power grids, all of which reached new highs, as well as energy storage, according to BloombergNEF. Electrified transport includes electric vehicle production as well as public charging infrastructure and fuel cell vehicles. The bigger picture Mature technologies drove investment, while emerging technologies like electrified heat, hydrogen, carbon capture and new nuclear saw a drop-off in spending, the report states. BloombergNEF also reported that energy investment is nowhere near what’s needed to hit global emission targets laid out in the Paris Agreement, a figure it pegged at $5.6 trillion a year from 2025 to 2030. Despite the massive investments, global energy consumption has remained heavily dependent – at more than 80 percent – on fossil fuels, leading some to question whether there ever will be a transition or simply continued growth. The U.S. reflects a similar dynamic, with less than 20 percent of all energy produced and consumed involving renewable and nuclear energy, even as renewables accounted for more than 90 percent of new U.S. electric generation capacity in 2024. Potential policy impacts President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has the United States’ renewable energy sector worried, in part because of a potential rollback of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which earmarked billions in federal funding and incentives for renewable energy projects. Albert Cheung, Bloomberg NEF’s deputy CEO, said his team still sees 900 gigawatts of new solar, wind and power storage being built by 2035, even if production tax credits are fully repealed. That would be 200 megawatts less than the group’s last forecast, “but it is still growth,” Cheung wrote. New investments driven by the Inflation Reduction Act are boosting renewable energy in southern states and Republican congressional districts, which may make it more difficult to roll back key provisions. Federal data show nearly 3.5 million U.S. jobs in clean energy technologies, while U.S. oil and gas accounts for 10.8 million jobs. Coal jobs have declined to just 41,000 in the U.S. For all energy jobs, the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 employment report listed the top 5 states for energy jobs: Texas (969,801 jobs), California (932,273), Michigan (401,720), Florida (351,934) and Ohio (333,1100). The states with the most jobs in “clean energy technologies” were California (545,207), Texas (261,934), New York (177,202), Florida (172,115) and Illinois (130,473).
