IEA: Electricity powers past fossil fuels to claim investment top spot

Madeleine Cuff
clock • 4 min read

Clean energy investment as a share of global spend hits record high in 2016, driving electricity investment past oil, gas, and coal supply spend for the first time in history

The growing prominence of clean energy helped the electricity sector attract more capital than oil and gas extraction projects for the first time in history, according to new analysis released yesterday by...

To continue reading this article...

Join BusinessGreen

In just a few clicks you can start your free BusinessGreen Lite membership for 12 months, providing you access to:

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis, and opinion from Europe’s leading source of information on the Green economy and business
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our daily news alert
  • Our weekly newsletter with the best of the week’s green business news and analysis

Join now

 

Already a BusinessGreen member?

Login

More on Energy

'Consistent and steadfast': How the world's renewable power capacity grew almost 700GW in 2025

'Consistent and steadfast': How the world's renewable power capacity grew almost 700GW in 2025

As conflict in the Middle East drives the world to the brink of an era-defining energy crisis, sustained clean energy growth continues to make the case for renewables with 'brutal clarity'

Stuart Stone
clock 01 April 2026 • 7 min read
Drax completes Flexitricity acquisition

Drax completes Flexitricity acquisition

Biomass energy giant finalises reported £42m deal to acquire Edinburgh-based energy optimisation company

Stuart Stone
clock 01 April 2026 • 2 min read
We're moving in the right direction, but we need to break the link between power and gas

We're moving in the right direction, but we need to break the link between power and gas

Ecotricity CEO Asif Rehmanwala and BusinessGreen editor-in-chief James Murray discuss how the green industrial revolution is gathering pace and helping to bolster UK energy security

Ecotricity
clock 01 April 2026 • 1 min read