The International Energy Agency said on Tuesday that total renewables capacity growth worldwide is expected to double in the next five years and surpass coal by the year 2025, and that the energy crisis is fuelling an increase in renewable power, which raises hopes for efforts to meet ambitious targets against global warming.
The Paris-based agency said that the 2,400 gigawatt growth between 2022 and 2027 is almost a third higher than last year's IEA forecast.
The IEA said this would help keep alive the possibility of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, referring to the preferrable target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to prevent a climate catastrophe.
The invasion of Ukraine by major oil and gas exporter Russia has triggered an energy crunch and prompted countries in Europe to diversify their supplies, which were heavily dependent on Russian deliveries.
Renewables were already expanding quickly, but the global energy crisis has kicked them into an extraordinary new phase of growth, as countries try to capitalise on their energy security benefits, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA.
Birol said in a statement that the world is set to add as much renewable power in the next five years as it did in the previous 20 years.
This is a good example of the current energy crisis as a turning point towards a more secure future energy system. The amount of renewable power capacity added in Europe between 2022 and 2027 is expected to be twice as high as in the previous five year period, according to the IEA.
EU nations could deploy wind and solar power faster if they were to streamline the process for getting permits, the report said.
The IEA's revised forecast is based on new policies and market reforms being implemented more quickly than previously planned.
The report said that China is expected to add more than half of the new global renewable power capacity additions over the next five years.