PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Renewable Energy: Investment (30 June 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make a comparative estimate of per capita investment in the renewable energy sector by the UK and (a) Germany, (b) China and (c) the EU average.

Asked by:
Matthew Pennycook (Labour)

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the UK has benefitted from over £53bn of private sector investment in the renewable energy market (Biomass & Waste, Geothermal, Marine, Small Hydro, Solar and Wind) since 2004. This equates to an average of £79 per capita per year. In the same period, around £133bn was invested in Germany at an average of £148 per capita per year and £244bn was invested in China at an average of £16 per capita per year. The European average for the same period is £78 per capita per year.

In 2014 there was over £8bn of private sector investment in the UK equivalent to £132 per capita, compared to £97 for Germany and £36 for China. The European average was £60.

Source - Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Eurostat and UN

Answered by:
Andrea Leadsom (Conservative)
9 July 2015