The paper investigates the contributions of foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows to clean energy use, carbon emissions, and economic growth. The paper employs cointegration tests to examine a long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables and fixed effects models to examine the magnitude of FDI contributions to the other variables. The paper analyzes panel data of 19 nations of the G20 from 1971 to 2009. The test results indicate that FDI has played an important role in economic growth for the G20 whereas it limits its impact on an increase in CO2 emissions in the economies. The research finds no compelling evidence of FDI link with clean energy use. Given the results, the paper discusses FDI's potential role in achieving green growth goals. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.