Global Clean Energy Investment Slumps 42%, CCS Advances

Global investment in clean technology manufacturing fell 42% from its 2023 peak to $155 billion in 2025, according to a new report from the Rhodium Group cited by OilPrice.com. The decline is driven by cooling investment in the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.

In China, investment levels have declined 70% since 2023, a market correction after years of oversupply and a slowdown in economic growth. In the United States, the trend reflects shifting policy priorities and private sector reaction to political uncertainty, OilPrice.com reported. Chinese companies in the green sector scrapped roughly $2.8 billion in planned U.S. manufacturing projects last year, with more than half of proposed investments canceled, paused, or delayed, according to reporting from Semafor. This pullback is a direct response to policy shifts under the Trump administration, including the rollback of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, the cancellation of many clean energy tax incentives, and tariffs on clean energy supply chains.

While the U.S. and China slow spending, other nations are investing more in clean energy, particularly emerging economies looking to domestic wind and solar for cheaper, reliable energy amid soaring oil and gas prices linked to global conflict.

Separately, Denmark has moved forward with a major industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. Aalborg Portland, Denmark's single largest CO2 emitter, won support under a national tender to capture, transport, and permanently store 1.25 million tonnes of CO2 annually from 2030 onward, according to OilPrice.com. This marks Europe's first truly large-scale deployment of carbon capture at a cement plant, a sector responsible for roughly 7–8% of global CO2 emissions.

A third report highlights regulatory contrasts in utility management. OilPrice.com notes that in the United States, regulatory agencies historically regulated prices and watched over utility financial policies, creating an implicit deal to cover legitimate costs through ratemaking for low-risk returns. In Britain, a lighter-handed approach has led to crisis at Thames Water, where previous owners stripped cash, replaced equity with debt, and failed to meet goals, leaving the utility's fate in the hands of courts and creditors.

Bakken Context: The global downturn in clean energy manufacturing investment, particularly in wind and solar, may reduce competitive pressure on fossil fuels in the near term, potentially supporting hydrocarbon demand. The advancement of large-scale CCS in Europe, targeting hard-to-abate industrial sectors like cement, demonstrates a growing market for carbon management technologies that could eventually intersect with emissions from oil and gas production. The contrasting utility regulatory models underscore the financial and regulatory risks inherent in large infrastructure projects, a consideration for Bakken operators involved in midstream or downstream ventures.