18.4 TW by 2035: IRENA Raises Renewables Goal as Power Demand Climbs

While the world moves increasingly closer to reaching its target to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, this may not be sufficient to meet global climate goals as energy demand is now rising faster than previously expected, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA says. 2TW by 2030,” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, told CNA on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week.

However, the goal, set out during the 2023 COP climate summit in Dubai, was based on projections of global energy demand that turned out to be too conservative compared to reality. In the past three years, global energy and electricity demand have jumped more than what was expected just three years ago, due to additional consumption for residential cooling and heating, and the AI…