Ernst and Young Editors: “Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need updates on the latest and greatest finance mechanisms available today. Since 2003, global consultancy Ernst & Young has released its Country Attractiveness Indices, which ranks global renewable energy markets by analyzing investment strategies and resource availability. The indices are updated on a quarterly basis and the most recent report can be found here. Here is the firm’s assessment of the recent renewable energy financial market. From Micro to Mainstream? With estimates putting total crowdfunding across all sectors at just over US$5 billion in 2013, compared with more than US$255 billion new investment in clean energy alone in the same period, it’s easy to see why “microfinance” business models are often perceived as merely a footnote to the global energy transformation and a parochial funding vehicle for the environmentally conscious investor. In short, there is no escaping the fact that retail investment and community-led funding currently contribute only a small fraction of the global investment volumes. Yet, faced with the startling reality that more than 1.3 billion people worldwide still have limited or no access to electricity, perhaps we should not be trivializing any contribution toward the estimated US$1t of investment required to achieve universal energy access by 2030. Factor in a surging population of potential energy consumers even beyond 2030 and the scale of the challenge becomes even greater. An even more intriguing thought is therefore whether consumer-led (or consumer-inspired) microfinance, far from being simply a footnote, is in fact becoming a significant narrative in the next chapter of the global energy revolution…”