Global energy investment is projected to rise to an unprecedented $3.3 trillion in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest World Energy Investment report.
The increase comes despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties, with clean energy technologies attracting twice as much capital as fossil fuels.
Clean technology investment — spanning renewables, nuclear, power grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, energy efficiency, and electrification — is expected to reach a record $2.2 trillion this year.
This surge reflects a combination of emissions reduction efforts, stronger industrial policy, energy security concerns, and the growing cost competitiveness of electricity-based solutions. In contrast, investment in oil, natural gas, and coal is forecast at $1.1 trillion.
The 10th edition of the IEA’s World Energy Investment report provides a detailed analysis of current investment patterns across fuels, technologies, and regions, while also highlighting major shifts over the past decade.
“Amid the geopolitical and economic uncertainties clouding the energy outlook, energy security has emerged as a key driver of record global investment this year,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Countries and companies are seeking to insulate themselves from a wide range of risks.”
Birol noted that while some investors are cautious amid shifting economic and trade dynamics, most existing energy projects remain unaffected.
He also reflected on the shifting global landscape: “When the IEA published its first World Energy Investment report nearly a decade ago, energy investment in China had just surpassed that of the United States. Today, China is by far the largest energy investor globally, spending nearly twice as much as the European Union — and almost as much as the EU and U.S. combined.”
China’s share of global clean energy spending has risen from 25% to nearly one-third over the past decade, driven by strategic investments in technologies such as solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, batteries, and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, global oil and gas investment is increasingly concentrated in the Middle East.
The report indicates a structural shift in the global energy economy. A decade ago, fossil fuel investments outpaced those in electricity generation, grids, and storage by 30 percent. In 2025, electricity-related investments are expected to exceed fossil fuel spending by 50 percent.
Low-emissions power generation spending has nearly doubled in the past five years, led by solar photovoltaics. Solar investments — across both utility-scale and rooftop systems — are expected to hit $450 billion in 2025, making solar the single largest category in global energy investment. Battery storage is also seeing rapid growth, surpassing $65 billion this year.
Nuclear power investment has increased by 50 percent over the past five years and is projected to reach $75 billion in 2025. At the same time, rising electricity demand continues to drive investment in coal supply, particularly in China and India.
China alone began construction on nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity in 2024, pushing global coal plant approvals to their highest level since 2015.
However, a growing concern is the lag in investment in electricity grids. Although grid investment stands at around $400 billion annually, it is not keeping pace with the rapid expansion of generation and electrification. To maintain electricity security, the report warns that grid investment must rise to match generation spending by the early 2030s — a target hindered by long permitting timelines and strained supply chains for critical components like transformers and cables.
In the fossil fuel sector, upstream oil investment is expected to decline for the first time since the COVID-19 slump in 2020, with a 6 percent drop driven largely by reduced U.S. tight oil spending. In contrast, investment in new liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure is booming, with major projects underway in the U.S., Qatar, Canada, and other countries. Between 2026 and 2028, global LNG capacity is forecast to see its largest expansion in history.
Investment trends remain starkly uneven worldwide. Developing economies, particularly in Africa, continue to face major challenges in attracting capital for energy infrastructure.
Despite housing 20 percent of the world’s population and experiencing rapidly growing energy needs, Africa accounts for just 2 percent of global clean energy investment.
Over the past decade, total energy investment on the continent has dropped by one-third, driven by falling fossil fuel spending and inadequate growth in clean energy investment.
To bridge this gap, the IEA stresses the need for increased international public finance, strategically deployed to attract larger flows of private capital into developing markets.
The 2025 edition of the World Energy Investment report also introduces an interactive data explorer, enabling users to compare investment trends across technologies, fuels, and regions for the periods 2016–2020 and 2021–2025. The tool includes data for 19 individual countries and regions, offering a detailed look at the evolving global energy landscape.