The United States is far and away the global leader when it comes to where cleantech companies are headquartered, but some metrics from a new report by consultancy Deloitte show its influence may be waning. 

While the U.S. share of new cleantech companies being founded declined just one percentage point (36% to 35%) from the beginning of this century to the last three years, others have risen (2% to 7% in Germany and a doubling in Australia from 4% to 8%).  

“These trends match the ‘rise of the rest’ in overall startup activity (beyond climate tech) that has been observed for some years now,” the report authors write. 

China, which dominates in most cleantech manufacturing, is exerting its influence on the investment front, Deloitte found. U.S. companies received 76% of all global climate tech investments from 2000 to 2004 but received just 49% in the period from 2020 to 2023. Meanwhile, the investment share going to Chinese companies grew from 6% to 22% over those same time periods, the report says.