Despite fervent government interest in pursuing renewable energy, worldwide venture-capital investment in the clean-technology sector has fallen sharply for a second successive quarter, according to data released on 1 April by analysts Cleantech Group and Deloitte.
The sector includes renewable-energy, waste, water and materials technologies as well as the development of less destructive coal- and oil-extraction methods. The influx of venture capital fell from a high of US$2.6 billion in the third quarter of 2008 to $1.7 billion in last year's final quarter as the depth of the ongoing financial crisis became clear (see chart). This year's first quarter saw a further decline to $1 billion, more than one-third of which went into the solar industry.
G20 nations have, however, earmarked an estimated $400 billion for green projects as part of their individual economic-stimulus plans (see Nature 458, 562; 2009).
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Sagging economy clips clean tech's wings. Nature 458, 692 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458692a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/458692a
