By Susanna Twidale
LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) – The global deployment of renewable power must more than double to meet a climate pledge on renewable growth by 2030, even though it hit a record level last year, a report by renewable groups showed on Monday.
• More than 100 countries at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023 agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
• The world added just over 690 gigawatts of renewable power capacity in 2025.
• It still needs to accelerate installations to roughly 1,200 GW on average, every year through 2030, to meet the tripling pledge, the report compiled by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the COP31 Presidency and the Global Renewables Alliance said.
• Total global installed renewable capacity reached 5.15 terawatts at the end of 2025 — still less than half the 11.2 TW target needed to meet the pledge.
• Energy efficiency measures are also falling short, with energy intensity improving by about 2% in 2025, below the 4% annual rate needed to meet efficiency-doubling commitments.
• “Renewables can still close the gap towards 2030, but energy efficiency is falling behind, electricity demand is rising faster than expected, and the grid infrastructure has failed to keep pace,” Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said in the report.
• Nearly $1 trillion a year on average is needed in grid investment between 2026 and 2030, the report said, up from $525 billion in 2025.
• Ben Backwell, chair of the Global Renewables Alliance, said governments needed to “make renewables a national economic priority,” including by expanding grids, deploying storage and electrifying homes, transport and industry.
• This year’s COP climate talks in Turkey in November are expected to focus on using electricity to power more sectors and push for a new target of electricity meeting 35% of global final energy consumption by 2035.
(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; editing by Barbara Lewis)
