The race to replace fossil fuels with “green” energy slowed last year. As the industry struggled, China took the lead among nations with green energy investments. It is not much of a prize, as the many countries have decided the environment is not as important as the economy.

A study by Pew that covered the green energy sector in 2012 showed:

Although 2012 investment levels worldwide declined 11 percent, to $269 billion, the clean energy sector weathered the withdrawal of priority incentives and initiatives offered by governments in numerous key markets, demonstrating its resilience. Reliable clean energy investment data have been collected for nine years now. Looking at the data in three-year increments, average clean energy investment increased by at least $90 billion triennially — from an average of $64 billion in the 2004-06 period to an average of $156 billion in 2007-09 and $245 billion in 2010-12.

In other words, things got better in the industry, even though they got worse. Among the major categories of clean energy — wind, small hydro, biomas, solar, geothermal and marine — China’s investment was well ahead of the next two nations — the United States and Germany. China’s investment was $65.1 billion, the U.S.’s was $35.6 billion and Germany’s $22.8 billion. With the rise of shale oil and gas, “green” may continue to shrink for years to come.

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