Scaling Up Private Finance for Clean Energy in Emerging and Developing Economies

A massive scaling up of investment is essential in emerging and developing economies to sustainably meet rising demand for energy, as well as to ensure that climate targets are met. Getting on track for net zero emissions by 2050 will require clean energy spending in emerging and developing economies to more than triple by 2030 – far beyond the capacity of public financing alone and therefore demanding an unprecedented mobilization of private capital.

This special report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) examines how to scale up private finance for clean energy transitions by quantifying the investments required in different regions and sectors to build modern, clean energy systems, including achieving universal access. The new global energy economy represents a huge opportunity for growth and employment in emerging and developing economies. This report’s analysis identifies key barriers and how to remove them – and sets out the policy actions and financial instruments that can deliver a major acceleration in private capital flows for the energy transition.

This report is part of the IEA’s support of the first global stocktake of the Paris Agreement, which will be finalized in the run up to COP28, the next UN Climate Change Conference, at the end of 2023. Find other reports in this series on the IEA’s Global Energy Transitions Stocktake page.