Ethan Zindler on Clean Energy Investment in Emerging Markets: “The Private Sector Sees the Opportunity”

Summary: “The good news is clean energy has gotten much cheaper,” says Ethan Zindler, head of the Americas for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, on this week’s podcast. “The amount of stuff getting built for the same number of dollars has been going up. You’re getting more ‘bang for your buck’ when it comes to actual deployment.” Speaking at the Wilson Center’s day-long conference on renewable energy in the developing world, Zindler shared insights from Bloomberg’s annual Climatescope report, which scores 55 countries in the developing world on their receptiveness to private clean energy finance. The report and online portal is an “effort to provide actionable data for those trying to make strategic decisions about where to build clean energy,” he says, “and how to craft policies that are related to clean energy.” One of the big stories gleaned from the 2015 Climatescope is China’s staggering growth and innovation in renewable technologies over the last six years. China has been a major driver in lowering the price of solar by more than 80 percent, Zindler explains. “Of the 50 gigawatts of clean energy capacity built in 2014, about 35 gigawatts was in China.” Yet, if China’s growth is set aside, the trend line shows lower local prices for clean energy around the globe. For Zindler, this means opportunities for investments in emerging markets such as Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa will continue to grow. “The private sector sees the opportunity to earn returns because it’s economically competitive at this point.” Ethan Zindler spoke at the Wilson Center on October 27, 2015.