Global shipments of clean-energy products reached a record $479 billion in 2025, overcoming major headwinds to cross-border trade.
After falling 7% between 2023 and 2024, trading volumes rose 1% this year, suggesting that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the energy transition sector — however frequently imposed and revised — did little to stifle trade in batteries, solar cells, and electric vehicles, a BloombergNEF report found. That momentum is likely to continue as countries, rattled by the more volatile fossil fuel markets this year, increasingly bet on greener alternatives, especially in net-importing regions. Already, countries like India and Türkiye are growing solar manufacturing hubs, importing midstream solar cells rather than finished photovoltaic modules.
But increasing capacity outside of China is compounding the existing issue of oversupply that spans the entire clean-tech value chain, with global manufacturing capacity now exceeding 200% of what is needed to meet demand. That glut helps explain why efforts to onshore production in the US and Europe are unlikely to turn either region into a major clean-tech exporter.
