Highlights

• Global renewable energy additions touch 793 GW in 2025, which is buoyed by solar and wind deployment.
• China tops in renewable expansion and accounts for two-thirds of global solar and wind capacity additions.

Global renewables deployment soars ahead of COP30 as the world continues to add record levels of solar and wind capacity.

In 2025, renewable energy additions are likely to touch 793 GW, which is an 11% increase from 2024’s 717 GW.

China is at the forefront of this diversification, which logs around 66% of global solar capacity additions and 69% of wind capacity additions.

Read More: Global Pivot to Solar and Wind Reduces Coal and Gas Generation

The rise comes after consecutive annual increases of 66% in 2022 and 22% in 2023 and signals a continuous acceleration in clean energy deployment.

Solar continues to expand in absolute terms, whereas wind sees higher relative growth.

Despite swift expansion on the ground, national renewable targets for 2030 are set at levels aligned with doubling capacity rather than tripling it.

The total of national targets has inched up by only 8% since 2022, with China raising its 2030 goal through the 2025 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), offset by a decline in the United States’ assumed target.

This gap between deployment and official targets creates uncertainty over whether the global renewable energy tripling goal can be reached.

Also Read: COP28 Impact: 16 Nations Raise, 6 Lower Renewables Targets

The annual additions needed to triple global renewable capacity by 2030 are now lower than in previous years. From 2026 to 2030, growth of around 12% per year in renewable capacity additions would align with the tripling target, following an average 29% growth rate between 2023 and 2025.

However, the generation shortfall stays higher at 28% because wind and hydro plants produce more electricity per unit of capacity than solar. This spotlights the importance of aligning deployment trends with government planning to sustain the momentum ahead of COP30.

Katye Altieri, Electricity Transition Analyst (Global), Ember, said: “Deployment has accelerated far faster than governments had expected. Renewables are booming, led by solar. But unless countries urgently update their targets, we risk underbuilding the grids, flexibility, and storage required to support this extraordinary growth.”

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Source: Ember