Global investment in the renewable energy market grew 5 percent in 2008, to a new record high of $155 billion, but that growth rate was slowed by the global financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009. The figures were reported in the Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009 Report. The investment in renewable capacity in 2008 represented “more than a four-fold increase since 2004,” according to the press release announcing the report.

The study, prepared for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by the research firm New Energy Finance, found that “2008 was the first year that investment in new power generation capacity sourced from renewable energy technologies (approximately $140 billion including large hydro) was more than the investment in fossil-fueled technologies (approximately $110 billion).” Still, given the “long life of power sector assets,” renewable sources accounted for only 6.2 percent of total power sector capacity in 2008, up from 5.4 percent in 2007, according to the executive summary.

The impact of the financial crisis was strongest in the first quarter of 2009, when new investment was off 53 percent compared to the same period in 2008. “There were some ‘green shoots’ of recovery during the second quarter of 2009, but the sector has a long way to go this year to reach the investment levels of late 2007 and early 2008,” the executive summary said.