IRENA: record 693 GW renewables in 2025, but annual build must roughly double for 2030

NEW YORK — The world added a record 693 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity in 2025, according to an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) assessment reported on 21 September 2026 during United Nations General Assembly week. Even so, annual deployment must more than double — to roughly 1,200 GW a year on average through 2030 — if countries are to meet the COP28 pledge to triple global renewable capacity this decade.

AFP, citing IRENA, said the 693 GW added in 2025 equals more than half the installed power capacity of the entire United States. Total renewable capacity stood at about 5.15 terawatts (TW) at the end of 2025 — still less than half of the roughly 11.2 TW implied by the tripling goal agreed at COP28 in Dubai in 2023.

Record year, still short of the tripling path

A report compiled by IRENA with the COP31 Presidency and the Global Renewables Alliance, summarised by Reuters, puts the required average annual build at about 1,200 GW through 2030. If the 2025 growth rate merely held constant, AFP reported, the world would reach about 10.6 TW by 2030 — roughly 0.6 TW short of 11.2 TW. That gap has narrowed from about 0.9 TW in last year’s assessment.

Earlier IRENA capacity statistics had put 2025 additions near 692 GW; later revisions brought the headline figure to 693 GW, with renewables approaching half of global power capacity. The 21 September package focuses on the remaining distance to the 2030 tripling target.

Efficiency and grids lag behind

The same assessment finds energy-efficiency progress lagging. Reuters reported energy intensity improved by about 2% in 2025, below the roughly 4% annual rate needed to double the rate of efficiency improvement by 2030. Grid investment needs are rising to nearly US$1 trillion a year on average between 2026 and 2030, up from about US$525 billion in 2025, the report said according to Reuters.

IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said renewables can still close the 2030 gap, but warned that efficiency is falling behind, electricity demand is rising faster than expected, and grid infrastructure has failed to keep pace. Ben Backwell, chair of the Global Renewables Alliance, said governments need to make renewables a national economic priority — including by expanding grids, deploying storage and electrifying homes, transport and industry.

Market momentum — and a fossil caveat

At an industry event covered by AFP, UN climate chief Simon Stiell said global renewables had helped humanity avoid almost half a trillion US dollars in fossil-fuel costs — a “mammoth decarbonisation dividend,” he said, larger than the GDP of more than three-quarters of countries. “The brute power of market forces is taking hold,” Stiell said, adding that “the shift to clean energy is now irreversible.”

Analysts cautioned that capacity records do not automatically displace fossil fuels when total energy demand is rising. David Waskow of the World Resources Institute told AFP that rising demand for cooling, along with AI and data centres, are among the largest drivers of growing electricity use — and that faster renewables must be paired with cuts in fossil-fuel consumption. The Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy, cited by AFP, found fossil fuels still supplied 86% of global energy in 2025, with fossil use still growing in absolute terms.

COP31 in Türkiye is expected to emphasise electrification alongside continued pressure to accelerate renewables. Whether 2025’s record becomes a floor for 1,200 GW-class annual additions will decide if the COP28 tripling pledge remains reachable.