The Global Solar Council (GSC) has called for urgent changes to the global financial system to accelerate investment in solar energy, particularly in developing regions, and close the growing funding gap between advanced and emerging markets.
In a new report released on Monday, the trade body outlined ten key recommendations aimed at making solar finance more accessible, reducing investment risks, and enabling broader deployment of solar technologies.
“Finance must become the catalyst for energy equity – not a barrier,” said Sonia Dunlop, chief executive of GSC. “If we want to scale up solar deployment to 1TW per year, we have to bring down the cost of finance for solar projects large and small around the world.”
The report, titled How to Finance Solar for All?, is the first publication from the GSC’s finance task force, chaired by solar manufacturer Jinko Solar. It draws on industry, investor, and policy expertise from multiple regions.
GSC highlighted stark disparities in financing conditions. According to the report, while global clean energy investment reached over $2 trillion in 2024, only 3% flowed to Africa. It noted that projects in Nigeria can face equity return expectations nearing 60%, compared to around 8% in Germany.
“A typical project that today gets 15% cost of finance needs to come down to 5%,” Dunlop added. “We need to find ways of de-risking these projects.
The GSC’s recommendations include expanding public-private cooperation, increasing concessional finance, and deploying more de-risking instruments. The report also urges that energy storage be treated as core infrastructure and calls for tailored financing solutions for solar-plus-storage systems and newer solar applications such as floating photovoltaics and agrivoltaics.
“Finance is not neutral – it is a political and structural choice,” said Lin Sun, chair of the GSC finance task force and head of sustainability at Jinko Solar. “If we are serious about delivering energy equity, climate action, and the SDGs, solar finance must become more inclusive, transparent, and future-ready.”
The Council said rebalancing capital allocation is essential to ensure solar energy becomes a global solution, not one confined to wealthier nations.
