The global energy system has a long way to go to meet international climate goals, and significant investment in renewable energy is required to accelerate the energy transition (IRENA, 2016, 2019). We examine how firm- and country-specific conditions in the electric utility sector impact foreign direct investment (FDI) in renewables. Using a unique dataset of 289 greenfield investments by 17 multinational energy utilities, we employ a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) that yields five causal configurations leading to FDI in renewables and four configurations leading to investment in non-renewables. Our results indicate that private MNEs are at the forefront of investment in renewables, and while state-owned MNEs (SOMNEs) do invest in them, they tend to follow strategies that are less risky compared to private MNEs and more responsive to host-country incentives. Our analysis suggests that for private MNEs, international experience is strongly associated with investment in renewables, while for SOMNEs it is associated with investment in non-renewables. Further, we also identify instances where MNEs contribute simultaneously to a ‘race to the top’ and a ‘race to the bottom’ by investing in both renewables and non-renewables in different markets, thereby reducing the pace of the energy transition.

全球能源系统要实现国际气候目标还有很长的路要走，需要对可再生能源进行大量投资以加速能源转型（IRENA，2016，2019）。我们研究了电力行业的企业和国家特定条件如何影响可再生能源的外国直接投资 (FDI)。使用由 17 家跨国能源公用事业公司进行的 289 项绿地投资的独特数据集，我们采用模糊集定性比较分析 (fsQCA)，得出导致 FDI 对可再生能源进行投资的五种因果配置和导致对不可再生能源投资的四种配置。我们的结果表明，私营跨国企业处于可再生能源投资的前沿，而国有跨国企业 (SOMNEs) 确实对它们进行了投资，与私营跨国公司相比，它们倾向于遵循风险较小且对东道国激励措施更敏感的战略。我们的分析表明，对于私营跨国公司，国际经验与可再生能源投资密切相关，而对于 SOMNEs 则与不可再生能源投资相关。此外，我们还确定了跨国公司通过投资不同市场的可再生能源和不可再生能源，同时为“向上竞争”和“向底部竞争”做出贡献的情况，从而降低了能源转型的步伐。