This is one of the main conclusions of the ‘Renewables 2005 Global Status Report’, published by the REN21 renewable energy policy network and the Worldwatch Institute. The report was launched during the Beijing international renewable energy conference.

Lead author Eric Martinot establishes that renewable energy has become big business. Large commercial banks are starting to take notice, capital investors and leading investment banks are entering the market.

The report describes several statistics and developments, such as technologies, investments, (local) policies, capacity, green power consumers and jobs. The fastest growing technology is grid-connected solar power, which grew by 60% per year in the period of 2000-2004. Second is wind energy with a yearly growth of 28%. The number of jobs directly related to renewables exceeded 1.7 million, including 900,000 people in the business of biofuels. At least 48 countries today have supporting policies and measures in place, including 14 developing countries.