The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released its World Energy Transitions Outlook (WETO) 2023, emphasizing the urgent need for a significant increase in renewable power capacity. The report highlights the importance of tripling annual renewable power additions by 2030 to stay on track with the 1.5°C climate target set by the Paris Agreement.

With the world still reeling from the economic effects of the pandemic, the scale of the climate emergency has become ever more obvious in recent years, with record high temperatures and extreme weather events linked to climate change occurring around the globe. The success achieved this decade in reducing greenhouse gas emissions will determine whether global temperature rise can be limited to 1.5°C of pre-industrial levels this century, in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. IRENA’s 1.5°C Scenario, set out in the World Energy Transitions Outlook, presents a pathway to achieve the 1.5°C target by 2050, positioning electrification and efficiency as key transition drivers, enabled by renewable energy, clean hydrogen and sustainable biomass. This first volume of the 2023 Outlook provides an overview of progress by tracking implementation and gaps across all energy sectors, and identifies priority areas and actions based on available technologies that must be realised by 2030 to achieve net zero emissions by mid-century.