A new International Energy Agency (IEA) report has found that, following COP28 in 2023, several countries’ targets and implementation plans are not yet in line with the key goals set at the conference.
The report also notes that the participating countries have a chance to develop clearer plans for encouraging renewable energy – which will bring them in line with the COP28 goal of tripling global capacity by 2030.
The report, COP28 Tripling Renewable Capacity Pledge: Tracking countries’ ambitions and identifying policies to bridge the Gap, reiterates that the official commitments for participating countries currently amount to 1,300GW of global capacity. This is only 12% of the goal set at COP28.
There is an appetite for improvement, as the IEA’s analysis of 150 countries demonstrates. These findings show that governments’ domestic goals are 8,000GW of installed capacity. If these domestic goals are included in the countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), 70% of the 2030 goal would be reflected instead.
“At COP28, nearly 200 countries pledged to triple the world’s renewable power capacity this decade, which is one of the critical actions to keep alive hopes of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C,” said IAE Executive Director Fatih Birol.
“By delivering on the goals agreed at COP28 – including tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030 – countries worldwide have a major opportunity to accelerate progress towards a more secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.”
The role of renewables
Many countries have embraced renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, as costs have drastically decreased over the last decade, and because of governments investing in more resilient energy systems with lower emissions.
Policy support, economies of scale, and technological progress have decreased by over 40% over the same period – making them competitive with traditional fossil fuel sources. Meanwhile, the international amount for added renewable capacity has tripled since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Solar at COP28
Solar-oriented goals established at COP28 include:
- Tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.
- Accelerating solar’s global deployment by a factor of four this decade.
- Accelerating solar’s global deployment by a factor of ten by 2050.
- To “transition away” from fossil fuels
- And more.
