Full year 2023 figures: Renewables private, transport sovereign

The full-year project finance data report from Proximo Intelligence is now available in our reports section. For these figures, Proximo has decided to focus on project finance volumes. But on page 8 we look at how the different sectors depend on different types of financing structure. Proximo's dataset differentiates between financings for projects through special purpose vehicles (core project finance), corporate financings, and financings at the sovereign level. All financings, as per Proximo's methodology, must be for specified assets, regardless of financing structure.

In renewables, 2023 was not just a good year, it was a good year for project finance in renewables. Corporate structures, while they account for a small amount of investment, are only a little higher than in digital infrastructure, and sovereign structures are barely significant. In transport, sovereign structures are much more common. This suggests that governments are turning their back on the private sector for delivering complex transport projects. The private sector has long struggled to manage interface risk and demand risk - and the signs are that governments, rather than take these risks on at too great a cost, are are looking to procure these assets themselves.