A report issued this week by Goldman Sachs, the giant U.S. investment bank with $856 billion in assets and close ties to successive American administrations, puts “the phenomenon of solar PV and onshore wind on par with U.S. shale oil production.”

The Goldman Sachs report identifies four technology fields that have the best balance between lowering carbon emissions and making a profit for investors. According to Goldman Sachs, they are: solar PV, onshore wind, LED lights, and electric vehicles. Those “front-runners” are attracting US$600 billion a year in new investment–and make up the majority of low-carbon private financing, Goldman Sachs reports.

Lesser amounts are going into other low-carbon technologies that so far “lack the scale or the momentum to drive significant large-scale global change.” This second group includes: biofuels, large hydro, carbon capture, marine power, and offshore wind.  

But it’s on-shore wind and solar that will “account for over half of capacity-adjusted new installations in electricity generation capacity by 2025,” the report forecasts.