Global renewable energy capacity increased 15.1% year-on-year in 2024, the largest expansion ever recorded but still short of the pace needed to achieve the COP28 goal of tripling capacity by 2030, the International Renewable Energy Agency warned in a report.

With six years to go, annual capacity additions of more than 1,120 GW will now be needed to keep the planet on a 1.5°C warming trajectory, IRENA’s Director-General Francesco La Camera said, noting that “significant disparities remain”: China alone accounted for nearly 64% of the total growth, adding more than eight times as much capacity as the US and five times that of Europe.

Besides, raw wind and solar deployment numbers only tell one part of the story, said Seaver Wang, the director of the Breakthrough Institute’s climate and energy program. China’s rapid buildout, for example, is “impressive” but just beginning to cover growing energy demand and not yet significantly altering its emissions profile, he told Semafor.