CleanTech Investment Takes a Hit

For months, the cleantech sector — everything from renewables to energy efficiency projects — has been awash with tales of investors pulling the plug on start-ups and entrepreneurs struggling to find capital. On Apr. 1, the CleanTech Group, a market research firm, released figures that provide hard data to back up these anecdotes. According to the research, the combined venture capital investment in the North American, European, Chinese, and Indian cleantech markets in the first quarter of 2009 totaled $1 billion. That’s a 41% drop since the last quarter of 2008, and a 48% decline compared to the same period last year.

Indeed, the CleanTech Group reckons VC investment in the sector now stands at its lowest level since 2007. That comes despite G20 countries expected to put aside $400 billion of their combined $2.6 trillion stimulus packages for cleantech projects.