Superannuation giants and other large investors are increasingly willing to plough billions of dollars into Australian renewable energy projects, but have expressed little desire to explore new opportunities in nuclear power.

Capital markets’ confidence in funding projects related to Australia’s energy transition has rallied in the past two years amid significant improvements in policy and regulatory certainty, according to the country’s most comprehensive report on institutional investors’ climate priorities.

Nuclear energy, however, ranked last on the list of technologies to which investors were seeking exposure, the report found, despite the federal opposition elevating the technology to the top of its energy agenda and campaigning for the deployment of nuclear generators in Australia.

The findings, to be published on Monday, are based on the annual survey of the Investor Group on Climate Change – a coalition of 104 global and local institutional investors including AustralianSuper, Cbus, HESTA, Fidelity, BlackRock and Vanguard.

This year, the survey canvassed the views of 63 superannuation funds and other institutions holding a collective $37 trillion of assets under management.

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Nearly half of all the respondents ranked renewable energy as the top opportunity they believe will deliver the best long-term returns for their beneficiaries. Investors are also seeking opportunities in areas such as energy storage, critical minerals needed to build clean technology, and green hydrogen.

While many investors had some exposure to the nuclear industry through holdings in listed companies and the nuclear industry supply chain, fewer than one in 10 investors said they were exploring new investments in nuclear projects.

“This is due to nuclear energy’s very high cost, and the lack of maturity and deployment in next-generation technologies,” the report says.