The “clean revolution is unstoppable”, but will it come too late?

In recent years, one of the bright spots amid gloomy climate predictions has come from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – an intergovernmental body based in Abu Dhabi – which has consistently pointed to the falling costs and rising efficiency of clean energy sources such as solar and wind.

On Tuesday, IRENA presented its latest progress report, reiterating the impressive increase in renewable energy (2024 saw a record 582 additional Gigawatts of renewable energy capacity), but warned that this is still far from the annual increase needed to stop using the fossil fuels that are accelerating global warming.

“The clean energy revolution is unstoppable,” Guterres said in reaction to the study.

“Renewable energy is used faster and cheaper than fossil fuels, driving growth, jobs and affordable energy.. But the window to keep the 1.5°C limit within reach is rapidly closing. We must intensify, expand and accelerate the just energy transition, for everyone, everywhere.”

Still out of the way

At the UN climate conference COP28, governments committed to producing 11.2 terawatts of energy from renewable sources by 2030.

So while the 2024 figure is impressive, it is still a long way from the 1,122 GW of capacity that must be added each year, if that goal is to be reached on time.

The report calls on the world’s richest countries to take the lead in moving away from polluting energy sources such as coal and oil and increasing their share of renewable energy to around 20 percent of global capacity by the end of the decade.

According to the report, a significant increase in transition investment is urgently needed to fund improvements to electricity grids, supply chains and manufacturing with clean technologies for solar, wind, batteries and hydrogen.