More than 70% of global renewable energy capacity added in 2024 was installed in Asia, highlighting a growing regional divide in the energy transition, according to new data published by the International Renewable Energy Agency.
IRENA’s Renewable Energy Statistics 2025 report shows that global renewable capacity rose by over 15% last year to reach 582GW, but growth remained uneven.
Asia accounted for 71% of the new capacity, while Europe and North America contributed 12.3% and 7.8% respectively.
By contrast, Africa, Eurasia, Central America and the Caribbean collectively represented just 2.8% of global additions.
Africa alone increased its capacity by 7.2%, despite what IRENA described as “massive economic and development opportunities”.
IRENA director-general Francesco La Camera said: “The renewable energy boom is transforming global energy markets… however, the growing regional divide highlights that not everyone is benefiting equally from this transition.”
He said bridging the investment gap “requires targeted policies, international financing, and partnerships that unlock capital and technology where they are needed most”.
UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell said global progress must accelerate to meet the COP28 goal of tripling renewables by 2030.
He added: “We need to move much further and faster, and make more progress on the key enablers for vulnerable developing countries.”
According to IRENA, the current growth trajectory would result in 10.3TW of capacity by 2030-900GW short of the global target of 11.2TW.
To reach that target, the report said annual renewables growth would need to rise to 16.6% for the rest of the decade.
IRENA said solar and wind continued to dominate new installations, accounting for 97.5% of net additions in 2024.
Solar added 453GW globally, while wind followed with 114GW.
Renewables accounted for 46.2% of total installed electricity capacity in 2024, nearly equal to fossil fuels at 47.3%.
IRENA said renewable electricity generation rose by 5.6% year-on-year in 2023 to reach 8,928TWh, while non-renewables grew just 1.2%.
As a result, renewables supplied almost 30% of global electricity generation by the end of 2023.
IRENA reaffirmed its commitment to tracking annual progress on the tripling target as the custodian agency responsible for monitoring the 2030 goal.