Achieving breakthrough scope goals renewable energy agreed at last year’s global climate summit will remain a distant dream unless the world invests more than $30 trillion over the next six years, Politico reports. She issued such a warning on Friday International Renewable Energy Agency (International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENE) at the final meeting before next month’s UN climate summit in Azerbaijan, known as COP29. The focus will then be on financing activities for climate.
The failure of renewable energy efforts
At last year’s COP28 conference in Dubai, countries pledged to collectively triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and double energy conservation efforts by 2030. These commitments have been deemed crucial to limiting global warming in accordance with the Paris Agreement. IRENA’s first progress assessment, published on Friday, gives the world a failing grade. When it comes to tripling the target, the agency said countries are on track to achieve just half the renewable energy increase required to meet the target. IRENA outlines what is needed to make up for the shortfall: stronger policies, easier permitting and modernization of energy networks, and a sharp increase in investment.
Record investments are not enough
Investments in renewable energy sources reached a record high of $570 billion last year, but according to IRENA, $1.5 trillion is needed annually. Spending on energy conservation measures must increase sevenfold to meet the doubling goal, from $323 million last year to $2.2 trillion annually. According to IRENA, achieving the twin goals of COP28 requires cumulative global investments of USD 31.5 trillion in renewable energy sourcesnetworks, energy efficiency and related measures by 2030.
Increased financing is necessary
The IRENA assessment comes just a month before the start of COP29, during which countries are expected to agree a new common target for climate finance – in particular the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources – in developing countries. Some proposals to replace the current $100 billion-a-year target range as high as $1.3 trillion. But developed countries and the European Union say any significant increase in public financing requires economies like China to chip in, and most investment must come from the private sector, not national budgets.
IRENA says a “significant increase” in both public and private financing is needed to increase the share of investment in developing countries. The vast majority of investments in renewable energy sources last year (84%) were directed to the EU, China and the United States. India and Brazil accounted for about 6%; investment in Africa is low and halved in 2022-2023.
The world can only cope with solar energy
IRENA’s progress assessment shows the world is failing in almost every aspect except solar energy. According to the agency, to meet the COP28 target, installed renewable energy capacity would need to increase from 3.9 terawatts (TW) currently to 11.2 TW by the end of the decade.
Solar energy is the only renewable technology developing at the required level. To achieve the projected share, onshore wind energy needs to triple, while offshore wind and bioenergy should increase sixfold. Geothermal power should grow 35 times faster than last year.
IRENA says “little progress has been made” on energy efficiency over the past year. While sales of electric vehicles reached a record high of 18% of total global car sales last year, the agency warns that the situation for heat pumps is dire: after a brief increase in 2022, their sales fell by 3% in 2023, with a particularly noticeable decline in Europe.