The Cleantech Group reported third quarter global investment numbers yesterday and there was no reason to cheer. They clocked in at $1.56 billion, a slight dip from Q2, and 30 percent lower than Q3 2011. The Cleantech Group is projecting an overall decline of 28 percent for 2012 investment versus 2011.

As we’ve seen before, the numbers also show a shift toward later stage financing with 63 percent of deals being late stage. Looking back, that’s fairly different from 2008 when about half the deals were late stage. It’s getting harder for early startups in cleantech to find funding.

And with IPO markets dry, it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier. China had been the one bright spot in the IPO market but even there 10 solar companies shelved their IPOs during the third quarter. A rash of bad news related to tightening credit and consolidation in the Chinese solar industry, fueled by overcapacity and plunging panel prices, has put those IPOs on hold. Overall solar had a rough quarter in VC, with just 11 deals resulting in $70 million raised. Transportation financing actually was the big leader in Q3.

It’s rough news, which is why the industry actually needs more visionaries. I’d put Tony Faddell (Nest) and Elon Musk (Tesla) in that category. Not surprisingly, they didn’t come to cleantech with grand designs about how to save the world from climate change. They just came with great design.