Global energy investment will reach its highest level ever recorded in 2026: $3.4 trillion, up five percent from 2025. Of that total, approximately $2.2 trillion is flowing into renewables, nuclear, electricity grids, storage, low-emission fuels, energy efficiency, and electrification. Fossil fuels account for $1.2 trillion. These are the headline figures from World Energy Investment 2026, the International Energy Agency’s annual report published on May 28.
For the first time in history, the share allocated to clean energy is nearly double that of fossil fuels. In 2015, renewables attracted barely one-sixth of total global energy investment — around $290 billion out of $1.8 trillion. Today, they command two-thirds of the overall flow. This is a structural shift, not a cyclical one. Renewable investment is expected to reach $665 billion in 2026, with $365 billion earmarked for solar alone. Low-emission sources now account for over 70 percent of global investment in electricity generation.
Nuclear is one of the defining stories of this capital reallocation. Investment in the sector now exceeds $80 billion per year, with nearly 80 gigawatts of new capacity under construction across 15 countries. This is not a marginal recovery: it is a trend consolidating year after year, driven by growing concern over energy security. The IEA notes that countries which rely on imported fuels are increasingly pivoting toward locally available sources — and nuclear is explicitly included in that category.
Geopolitics are a major factor. The IEA describes the current situation as “the greatest energy security crisis the world has ever faced,” linked to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This pressure is accelerating source diversification and pushing governments toward domestic resources. Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director, has likened the impact of this crisis to the oil shocks of the 1970s, pointing out that events of that magnitude have historically reshaped investment priorities for decades. Despite elevated oil prices, investment in crude is expected to fall for the third consecutive year, dropping below $500 billion. Natural gas, meanwhile, rises to $330 billion — a decade-high — driven by LNG projects in the United States and Qatar.
Electricity-related spending now accounts for nearly 60 percent of total global energy investment. Grids and storage are no longer secondary line items in the world’s energy budget: they have become its center of gravity. The private sector is leading this transformation — in 2025, more than two-thirds of energy investment came from companies and households, with three-quarters of the total financed through commercial sources, primarily banks. A geographic divide persists, however: in advanced economies, 85 percent of energy projects are privately financed, while in emerging and developing economies that share drops to 67 percent.
If the trajectory of the past decade continues, nuclear is set to further consolidate its position. Forecasts toward 2030 point to growing investment in the sector as renewables and gas rebalance. Eighty gigawatts under construction in fifteen countries is not an experiment: it is a fully operational industry in expansion mode, and the capital flows confirm it. The figures in the IEA’s 2026 report make one thing clear — the energy transition is no longer a direction of travel. It is already the dominant market.
