From Investor's Business Daily, September 10:
Global spending on "clean" energy and clean tech plunged 17% in the first half of 2026, according to Rhodium. The research firm's new report peels back global spending trends across solar energy, electric vehicles, sustainable aviation fuel, and manufacturing.
Investments in the first quarter in particular fell so much than even a Q2 bump couldn't make up the difference. Q1 spending on cleaner energy plus related tech and manufacturing fell by $151.1 billion, or 28%, returning to 2024 levels, per Rhodium.
Its Clean Investment Monitor report pins 88% of the global decline on China in Q1, as it cut tax incentives for electric cars and transitioned solar and wind generation "toward market-based pricing." The latter, the report said, "drove a rush of installations ahead of the (June 2025) deadline, followed by an uneven pullback."
Electric car sales in the U.S. followed a similar trend in the first half of 2026. EV sales took off last summer after the Trump administration moved to slash tax incentives, triggering a subsequent pullback that makes year-over-year comparisons look grim, per earlier Benchmark reports.
Unsteady investments also show up in solar and battery manufacturing investment, which both declined globally, slipping 13% sequentially in Q1 and falling another 6% in Q2, per Rhodium. The sector's wobbly year to date also shows up in clean energy and technology stocks such as Tesla and First Solar.
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