The global market for clean technologies is expected to grow to over $2 trillion by 2035 from $700 billion in 2023, approaching the recent value of the global crude oil market, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency on Wednesday.
Energy Technology Perspectives 2024 (ETP-2024) focuses on the outlook for the top six mass-manufactured clean energy technologies: solar PV, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, electrolyzers and heat pumps.
Based on today’s policy settings, trade in clean technologies is also expected to rise sharply, according to the report.
In a decade, it more than triples to reach $570 billion, over 50% larger than the global trade in natural gas today, it added.
A surge in global investment in clean technology manufacturing is underway as countries look to bolster their energy security, maintain their economic edge and cut emissions, the report reads.
Most of this investment is concentrated in regions with an established presence in clean technology, including China, the EU and the US, and also increasingly India.
However, despite the strong impact of stimulus programs in the US, EU and India, China is set to remain the world’s manufacturing powerhouse for the foreseeable future.
“Under today’s policy settings, China’s clean technology exports are on track to exceed $340 billion in 2035, which is roughly equivalent to the projected oil export revenue this year of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates combined,” the report added.
Commenting on the report, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said that the market for clean technologies is set to multiply in value in the coming decade, increasingly catching up with the markets for fossil fuels.
“Clean energy transitions present a major economic opportunity, as we have shown, and countries are rightly seeking to capitalize on that,” Birol explained.
“However, governments should strive to develop measures that also foster continued competition, innovation and cost reductions, as well as progress towards their energy and climate goals,” he added.
