In the third quarter of 2013, $45.9 billion (£28.8 billion) was invested worldwide in renewable energy and technology including smart grid, efficiency, storage and electric vehicles, the research company said. That was 20 per cent lower than the same period last year.
It is “almost certain” the 2013 total will be below the previous years’ $281 billion (£176 billion), which itself was an 11 per cent drop on the 2011 record.
Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “After the slightly more promising second quarter, we now have a very disappointing third quarter figure for investment. $45.9bn is still a substantial amount of money, greater than that invested in the whole of 2004, but the loss of momentum since 2011 is worrying.
“The latest setback reflects policy uncertainty in Europe, the lure of cheap gas in the US, a levelling-off in wind and solar investment in China, and a general weakening of political will in major economies. Governments accept that the world has a major problem with climate change but, for the moment, appear too engrossed in short-term domestic issues to take the decisive action needed.”
Quarter-on-quarter, most major countries saw a slump in investment. The UK bucked the trend with a rise from $1.6 billion (£1.0 billion) in Q2 to $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) in Q3.