Record levels of investment are being made in clean energy by major corporations, according to a new report from BloombergNEF (BNEF).
In 2018 big business bought 13.4GW of renewable energy via power purchase agreements (PPAs), dwarfing the previous 6.1GW record set in 2017, BNEF’s Corporate Energy Market Outlook published today shows.
Jonas Rooze, head of corporate sustainability for BNEF, said: “Corporations have signed contracts to purchase over 32GW of clean power since 2008, an amount comparable to the generation capacity of the Netherlands, with 86% of this activity coming since 2015 and more than 40% in 2018 alone.”
American companies led the way, signing PPAs for 8.5GW of clean power. Facebook alone bought 2.6GW of green energy in 2018. For Europe, and the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the story is the same, with record buys, with deals struck for 2.3GW.
Rooze added: “For companies that think seriously about sustainable growth, establishing clean energy and decarbonisation targets lines up naturally with overall corporate strategies. At the same time, these initiatives have created an entire new universe of opportunity for utilities, clean energy developers and investors.”
