World added 50pc more renewable energy but more needed: IEA

AFP, Paris :
The world added 50 percent more renewable energy capacity in 2023 over the previous year but more is needed in the battle against climate change, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

The increase was the fastest growth rate in the past two decades and the 22nd year in a row that renewable capacity additions set a new record, the Paris-based IEA said.

The rise was driven by China, the planet’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases but also what the IEA called “the world’s renewables powerhouse”.

Massively scaling up the deployment of solar and wind power while winding down the use of fossil fuels is crucial to achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

But the world is not on pace to reach the goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030, a target agreed by nearly 200 nations at the UN’s COP28 climate summit in Dubai last month, the IEA said.

The COP28 agreement also called for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels, but without setting a timeline and short of a “phase-out” demanded by many nations but opposed by oil giant Saudi Arabia.

Global renewable capacity is expected to increase 2.5 times from 2022 levels by the end of the decade, the agency’s annual report on the sector found.

“It’s not enough yet to reach the COP28 goal of tripling renewables, but we’re moving closer — and governments have the tools needed to close the gap,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

Birol said onshore wind and solar panels were less expensive now than fossil fuel plants in most countries.