About this report
Renewables play a key role in clean energy transitions and the deployment of renewable power is one of the main enablers of keeping the rise in average global temperatures below 1.5°C. Recent progress has been promising: initial estimates suggest that 2022 is a record year for renewable capacity additions, with annual capacity expected to amount to about 340 GW. Key policies announced this year, especially REPowerEU and the US Inflation Reduction Act, will lend further support to accelerate renewable electricity deployment in the coming years.
Still, renewable electricity needs to expand faster to reach the milestones in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, where the renewable share of generation increases from almost 29% in 2021 to more than 60% by 2030. Annual generation has to increase at an average rate of over 12% during 2022-2030, which is twice the average of 2019-2021.
Renewables increased their share of power generation in 2021 despite record growth in electricity demand and droughts affecting hydropower generation
In 2021 renewable electricity generation rose by almost 7%, a record 522 TWh increase, with wind and solar PV technologies together accounting for almost 90% of this growth. The share of renewables in global electricity generation reached 28.7% in 2021, after modest growth of 0.4 percentage points. The slow growth of renewables’ share was due to global electricity demand reaching its highest level in history, as economic activity rebounded after the Covid-19-related slowdown, and droughts in several regions decreased hydropower generation.
