Christian Casillas reports on a panel discussion on the climate for cleantech investment in Latin America.
In spite of being flush with renewable energy resources, Latin America has attracted little cleantech investment relative to global trends. Worldwide, investment in the clean-energy sector has remained high over the past several years, despite the economic downturn. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Global trends in sustainable energy investment 2010, roughly $162 billion was spent on clean energy in 2009, and estimates suggest that spending in 2010 will be closer to a record $200 billion. Yet only 10 percent of new financial sector investments in 2009 occurred in South America, most of them (67 percent) in Brazil, Latin America’s cleantech leader.
