Development banks worldwide lent a record $108.9 billion to renewable energy and energy-efficient technology last year as they scale back investment in coal-fired power plants, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
KfW Group was the biggest lender furnishing $34.4 billion in 2012 followed by China Development Bank Corp. with $26 billion, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in a report today that used data from 26 institutions.
The state-backed lenders have boosted their financing of clean energy at an average rate of 25 percent over the last five years and that trend looks set to continue, the London-based researcher said.
“Since large development banks like the European Investment Bank and the World Bank Group have stated their intention to scale down or eliminate investment in coal-fired energy generation, we expect continued growth in clean energy investment,” according to the report. “In 2013, we expect growth between 15 and 30 percent.”
Development banks furnished $424.8 billion of clean energy finance between 2007 and 2012, according to the report. About half of that was disbursed in Europe, excluding Russia.
