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GLOBAL RENEWABLES ONLINE - SUMMER / FALL 2013
The importance of China and Eu-
rope for investments in renewables is
clear: they accounted for 60% of world
investment in 2012, even though it
was the weakest year for Europe since
2009.
In Germany, renewables account-
ed for 22.9% of electricity consump-
tion (up from 20.5% in 2011), 10.4% of
national heat use, and 12.6% of total
final energy demand. Germany saw
renewables investment slip 35% to $20
billion, mainly driven by lower costs of
installed solar capacity.
The United States added more
capacity from wind power than any
other technology, and all renewables
made up about half of total electric
capacity additions over the year. How-
ever, the, investment was down 34% to
$36 billion, mainly due to uncertainties
over US policy.
The Middle East and Africa
showed the highest regional growth in
2012,
with investment up 228% to $12
billion.
The brightest news from amongst
the developed countries was Japan,
where investment in renewable energy
(
excluding research and development)
surged 73% to $16 billion, thanks large-
ly to a boom in small-scale solar on the
back of new feed-in tariffs for installa-
tions.
ABOUT REN21
REN21 is the global renewable energy
policy multi-stakeholder network that
connects a wide range of key actors
from:
Governments
International organisations
Industry associations
Science and academia as well a
Civil society
to facilitate knowledge exchange,
policy development and joint action
towards a rapid global transition to
renewable energy. REN21 promotes
renewable energy to meet the needs
of both industrialized and developing
countries that are driven by climate
change, energy security, development
and poverty alleviation.
REN21 is committed to the following
objectives:
Providing policy-relevant information
and researchbased analysis on renew-
able energy to decision makers, multi-
pliers and the public to catalyse policy
change
Offering a platform for interconnec-
tion between multi-stakeholder actors
working in the renewable energy field
worldwide and identifying barriers
as well as working to bridge existing
gaps to increase the large-scale deploy-
ment of renewable energy worldwide.
See the REN21 Interactive Map:
Contact: REN21 Secretariat
15
rue de Milan
75441
Paris Cedex 9 France
Phone +33 1 44 37 50 90
Fax +33 1 44 37 50 95
