Global Clean Energy Investment Report: China No. 1, America 2 and Emerging Nations Closing Fast
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants America to not only maintain its standing as the top industrial nation, but to exceed its current expectations of that role as the globally preeminent producer of things.
In at least one area, though, America’s clean industrial progress is second to economic rival China and in danger of being overtaken in investment momentum by a host of developing economies. This is according to a new report on Clean Industry: Transformation Trends, by the non-profit Mission Possible Partnership (MPP).
The Trump and preceding Biden Administration intensified the anti-globalization push to “onshore” manufacturing within the U.S. In the last few years, numerous clean energy companies within the solar and battery storage sectors are announced or opened new manufacturing plants in the U.S.
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Nonetheless, China leads clean industry development globally although the U.S. and European Union previously have announced close to $450 billion in capital investment around decarbonization, the MPP report says. Of the actual secured clean energy project investment so far, China has achieved about 25%, with U.S. and the European Union at 22% and 14%, respectively.
The Trump U.S. Department of Energy recently terminated $3.7 billion in previously announced awards around decarbonization of various sectors, including carbon capture and utilization in the cement industry.
“Just like the industries of yesterday located near the coal mines which powered them, the new generation of energy-intensive industrial plants will go to where they can access abundant, reliable, cheap, clean electricity to produce materials, chemicals and fuels,” commented Faustine Delasalle, CEO of the Mission Possible Partnership and executive director of the supporting platform Industrial Transition Accelerator, in a statement. “The industrial heartlands of the past will have to be smart and cooperate if they want to retain their leading positions. MPP’s Global Project Tracker shows a relocation of the industrial base is already underway, with the new industrial sunbelt of the world poised to overtake western nations in sectors like ammonia, causing major ripples throughout the global economy.”
The Boulder, Colorado-based MPP includes industrial workforce leaders, clean energy investment groups and manufacturers. Among the companies and entities represented within the MPP include World Economic Forum, Schneider Electric, Heidelberg Materials, GE Vernova, Breakthrough Energy, the International Trade Union Confederation and RMI.
The Mission Possible partners are not alone in assessing the threat to America’s energy infrastructure leadership. About three months ago, the infrastructure report card graded by the American Society of Civil Engineers once every four years marked the quality of U.S. energy infrastructure at a low D+. The ASCE’s report card estimated the nation was close to $1 trillion behind the investment it needed to upgrade the grid and other energy infrastructure to meet modern needs.
U.S., China and the EU are still ahead in the capital investment race toward clean energy technologies, but the MPP report warns that an “industrial sunbelt” of national economies are aiming for the leaderboard by tapping into projects around clean ammonia—which is critical to agricultural and food chains—and other resources.
“MPP’s Global Project Tracker shows that a new Industrial Revolution is on the rise,” Christiana Figueres, co-founder of advocacy group Global Optimism, said in a statement. “Perhaps surprisingly, developing economies have an enormous opportunity to leapfrog fossil fuels in heavy industry and transport creating the infrastructure for sustainable economic growth in the 21st century. We now need to unlock the full potential of the clean industrial revolution and exponentially accelerate the existing pipeline.”
These industrial sunbelt countries are nations such as Brazil, India, Indonesia and Morocco, which have secured a fifth of investment in clean industrial plants globally, according to the tracker report. Nearly $1 trillion investment opportunity is still available out there for such projects, the report summary noted.
The MPP’s Global Project Tracker also details the progress of decarbonization projects by industrial sectors. Most successful, by the statistics, is the global aluminum sector within which 57% of planned low-carbon refineries and smelters have reached final investment decisions or are operational.
The trucking sector is severely lagging, having reached only 2% of its 2030 goal of seven million zero emission trucks. The cement and steel sectors, meanwhile, both are at only 9% of goals for low-emission plants reaching final investment decisions or operations, according to the MPP Global Tracker.
