【PitchBook】2025年气候技术并购回顾

2024 Climate Tech M&A Review Summary

Core Content

This report provides an overview of climate technology (climate tech) M&A activity from 2017 to 2024, highlighting key trends, segment performance, and investor behavior. It outlines the evolution of deal value and count, the impact of external factors like interest rates and economic conditions, and the role of strategic M&A versus buyouts.

Main Points

Overall Climate Tech M&A Trends

• Climate tech M&A deal value is significantly lower than other sectors like enterprise SaaS and fintech, with an average of $9.8 billion per quarter in 2024.
• The sector saw a sharp decline in 2023 due to rising interest rates and economic challenges, with deal value falling 71.6% to $17.9 billion.
• M&A activity rebounded in 2024, reaching $33.2 billion, a 86% increase from 2023, though deal count remained relatively stable.

Segment-Specific Trends

• Intermittent renewable energy and sustainable food are the top segments for both deal value and count.
  • Intermittent renewable energy had a total deal value of $102.9 billion from 2017 to 2024.
  • Sustainable food had a total deal value of $58.3 billion and the highest deal count (295).
• Other notable segments include:
  • Grid infrastructure with $45.7 billion in total deal value.
  • Low-carbon mobility with $21.5 billion in total deal value.
  • Clean fuels with $23.7 billion in total deal value, showing significant growth (433.7%).
  • Built environment with $21.4 billion in total deal value, growing by 335.8%.
  • Carbon tech had the lowest deal value at $4.1 billion, but saw a substantial increase in 2023 and 2024.

Strategic vs. Buyout Activity

• Strategic M&A accounted for 61.2% to 71.8% of total climate tech M&A deal count from 2017 to 2024.
• Buyout activity made up 28.2% to 38.8% of total deal count, but contributed a larger share of deal value in recent years.
• Strategic M&A peaked in 2022 at $34.2 billion across 149 deals, followed by a sharp decline in 2023 and a slight recovery in 2024 to $13.4 billion.
• Buyout activity saw a 105.9% increase from $9.6 billion in 2023 to $19.8 billion in 2024, making it the third-highest year for buyout deal value after 2021 and 2022.

Key Insights

• Intermittent renewable energy (solar and wind) and sustainable food are the most active segments, driven by technological maturity and market demand.
• The clean fuels segment, including hydrogen, biofuels, and waste-to-fuels, has shown strong growth due to the need for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors.
• Built environment and carbon tech are expected to see increased M&A activity in the coming years due to maturing technologies and expanding commercialization opportunities.
• Regional expansion is a key driver for M&A in segments like solar and built environment, with companies acquiring regional players to enhance their market presence.
• Nuclear fission and geothermal are less mature and have longer commercialization timelines, but may see more M&A activity as they approach viability.

M&A Deal Activity Highlights

• 2018 and 2019 saw large deal values due to outlier transactions:
  • E.ON's acquisition of Innogy in 2018 valued at $27.1 billion.
  • DuPont's acquisition of its nutrition & health division in 2019 valued at $16 billion.
• 2021 and 2022 were the peak years for both deal count and value:
  • 2021: $58.8 billion across 200 deals.
  • 2022: $62.8 billion across 244 deals.
• 2024 marked a moderate recovery, with deal value rising to $33.2 billion.

Top M&A Deals (2017–2024)

Top Corporate Investors in Climate Tech

Top PE Investors in Climate Tech

Conclusion

Climate tech M&A has been shaped by technological advancements, regulatory support, and market dynamics. While the sector remains smaller and more hardware-focused compared to other industries, its growth is evident in certain segments. Strategic M&A continues to dominate deal count, but buyouts have gained more value share in recent years. The future of climate tech M&A is expected to be driven by the maturation of key segments and the pursuit of regional and sectoral expansion opportunities.