Renewable energy investment in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific (APAC), excluding mainland China, exceeded $81 billion in 2025, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF). India and Pakistan account for around two-thirds of the increase. Indian investment reached a record $32 billion, supported by utility-scale auction volumes, according to the Emerging Markets Transition Factbook. Pakistan's rose from less than $4 billion to almost $19 billion, almost entirely due to small-scale solar.

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A record $176 billion across emerging markets

Across all emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), renewable investment reached a record $176 billion in 2025, up 14% from 2024 and more than four times the $44 billion invested in 2016. Their share of global new-build renewable investment rose to 25%, a decade high. Financing for solar and storage projects continues elsewhere: the EBRD commits up to $63.5 million to a solar-plus-storage plant at Benban, while Calibrant closed a $145 million debt facility led by Investec for storage and solar.

The increase coincided with a 32% year-on-year (YoY) decline in investment in mainland China, where developers are waiting for power-market reforms to be finalised and equipment prices to fall. India remained the largest emerging market for renewable investment, followed by Pakistan. Ten markets also accounted for more than two-thirds of investment in emerging markets.

Small-scale solar accounts for 44% of flows

Small-scale solar attracted nearly 44% of renewable investment across EMDEs in 2025, up from 7% in 2016. The segment has grown at an average of 47% YoY over the past decade. "Pakistan illustrates that markets can attract large volumes of investment through distributed solar deployment without an equally large utility-scale project pipeline," the report said.

Indonesia entered the top 10 emerging markets for renewable investment for the first time, following a rapid increase in geothermal project activity. In Vietnam, wind investment quadrupled as offshore wind tenders revived activity. Large projects in Taiwan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia helped push EMDE wind investment to a record $42 billion in 2025.

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Cross-border flows led by India

India and Turkey accounted for around 63% of the rise in domestic utility-scale investment in low- and middle-income economies between 2016 and 2025. Over 2016–2025, APAC excluding mainland China ranked second behind the European Union as a provider of disclosed cross-border utility-scale investment to these markets, with considerable funds flowing between the region's markets. "India was both the largest recipient and the largest individual provider," the report said.