Renewable energy accounted for 31.7 per cent of global electricity generation, producing 9,836 terawatt hours (TWh). The figures come as the incoming COP31 Presidency held by Türkiye unveiled an ambitious target to raise global electrification to 35 per cent of final energy demand by 2035, signalling a stronger international push to decarbonise buildings, transport and industry through clean electricity. However, IRENA warned that meeting this goal would require renewable electricity to supply 78 per cent of global electricity by 2035, roughly two-and-a-half times its current share, highlighting the scale of investment and policy reforms still required.

While Asia consolidated its position as the engine of the global energy transition, generating 4,589 TWh of renewable electricity in 2024, Africa produced only 227 TWh, representing a 5.7 per cent increase across all renewable sources except geothermal energy.The figures illustrate a widening gap between regions that are rapidly scaling renewable deployment and Africa, where abundant solar, wind and hydropower resources remain constrained by inadequate transmission infrastructure, limited access to affordable financing, weak manufacturing capacity and regulatory bottlenecks. For African economies, the findings present both a warning and an opportunity as the continent remains home to nearly 600 million people without access to electricity, yet possesses some of the world’s richest renewable energy resources.....read on   https://guardian.ng/energy/africa-risks-losing-out-in-renewable-energy-boom/

Renewable energy is cheaper and healthier – so why isn’t it replacing fossil fuels faster? The Conversation Jay Gulledge Nov17, 2025  You might not know it from the headlines, but there is some good news about the global fight against climate change. A decade ago, the cheapest way to meet growing demand for electricity was to build more coal or natural gas power plants. Not anymore. Solar and wind power aren’t just better for the climate; they’re also less expensive today than fossil fuels at utility scale, and they’re less harmful to people’s health. Yet renewable energy projects face headwinds, including in the world’s fast-growing developing countries. I study energy and climate solutions and their impact on society, and I see ways to overcome those challenges and expand renewable energy – but it will require international cooperation.

Falling clean energy prices......As their technologies have matured, solar power and wind power have become cheaper than coal and natural gas for utility-scale electricity generation in most areas, in large part because the fuel is free. The total global power generation from renewable sources saved US$467 billion in avoided fuel costs in 2024 alone. As a result of falling prices, over 90% of all electricity-generating capacity added worldwide in 2024 came from clean energy sources, according to data from the International Renewable Energy Agency.At the end of 2024, renewable energy accounted for 46% of global installed electric power capacity, with a record 585 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity added that year — about three times the total generating capacity in Texas.          

Health benefits of leaving fossil fuels......Beyond affordability, replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is healthier. Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases tiny particles into the air along with toxic gases; these pollutants can make people sick. A recent study found air pollution from fossil fuels causes an estimated 5 million deaths worldwide a year, based on 2019 data. For example, using natural gas to fuel stoves and other appliances releases benzene, a known carcinogen. The health risks of this exposure in some homes has been found to be comparable to secondhand tobacco smoke. Natural gas combustion has also been linked to childhood asthma, with an estimated 12.7% of U.S. childhood asthma cases attributable to gas stoves, according to one study.

Fossil fuels are also the leading sources of climate-warming greenhouse gases. When they’re burned to generate electricity or run factories, vehicles and appliances, they release carbon dioxide and other gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and trap heat near the Earth’s surface. That accumulation has been raising global temperatures and causing more heat stress, respiratory illnesses and the spread of disease. Electrifying buildings, cars and appliances, and powering them with renewable energy, reduces these air pollutants while slowing climate change.

So what’s the problem?In spite of the demonstrated economic and health benefits of transitioning to renewable energy, regulatory inertia, political gridlock and a lack of investment are holding back renewable energy deployment in much of the world. In the United States, for example, major energy projects take an average of 4.5 years to permit, and approval of new transmission lines can take a decade or longer. A large majority of planned new power projects in the U.S. use solar power, and these delays are slowing them down. The 2024 Energy Permitting Reform Act introduced by Sens. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, to speed approvals failed to pass. Manchin called it “just another example of politics getting in the way of doing what’s best for the country.” An even bigger challenge faces developing countries whose economies are growing fast.

These countries need to meet soaring energy demand. The International Energy Agency expects emerging economies to account for 85% of added electricity demand from 2025 through 2027. Yet renewable energy development lags in most of them. The main reason is the high price of financing renewable energy construction.,,,,,read on   https://theconversation.com/renewable-energy-is-cheaper-and-healthier-so-why-isnt-it-replacing-fossil-fuels-faster-269685 

"In a lot of cases, the motive is energy security," she said, adding that fossil fuels leave countries' economies vulnerable to something beyond their control.On the other hand, renewable energy is "locally grown. Every country around the world has solar and wind to some degree. Most countries have some other resource like geothermal or hydropower … that can really insulate countries from those supply shocks."We've already heard a lot about the journeys of some European countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. But here are some examples from other parts of the world you may have heard less about. 

Uruguay....... Uruguay, which relied on imported fossil fuels for electricity until the 2000s, was motivated by some of those price and supply shocks, as the price of oil tripled between 2001 and 2008 and its energy demand grew.  Ramón Méndez Galain, a physicist who became the South American country's energy minister, came up with a plan to transition its grid to renewables and sell the idea to the skeptical public. "I told people this was the best option even if they don’t believe climate change exists," Galain told the Guardian in 2023. "It’s the cheapest and not dependent on crazy fluctuations [in oil prices].” Uruguay already had hydropower, but it installed dozens of wind farms, which generated nearly 40 per cent of its electricity in 2023, and invested in biomass and solar.  "Today, Uruguay is 90 to 99 per cent renewable electricity. And that's coming from a mix of different resources, solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, geothermal," Isaacs said. "Uruguay has shown what a rapid transition you can make if energy security is the goal that you have in mind.   https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/renewable-energy-success-9.7172953  

Renewables Hit Nearly Half of Global Power Capacity in 2025  Earth.Org Martina IginiGlobal CommonsApr 2nd 2026“By the end of 2025, renewables accounted for 49% of global installed power capacity, and comprised 85.6% of annual global power additions, largely due to significant growth in solar and wind power,” said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency. Renewable energy accounted for nearly half of global power capacity by the end of 2025, according to new data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Last year saw the largest-ever recorded increase in renewable energy capacity – a 15.5% annual increase, or 692 gigawatts (GW) of added renewable capacity, the agency said in a report published on Wednesday. This continues a trend that has seen renewable power additions reaching new records almost every year since the turn of the millennium owing to their “competitiveness and resilience,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General.Renewables accounted for 49% of installed power capacity globally and comprised 85.6% of the total global power added in 2025. Driving this growth was solar energy, which alone accounted for nearly three-quarters of all renewable additions – a record 510 GW. Wind came in second, with 159 GW added in one year. But disparities among countries and regions persisted. China continued to lead the renewable energy market, reaching a total cumulative capacity of 2,258,016 MW in 2025 – a 24.2% increase over the previous year and far more than the capacity added cumulatively in each continent. China, the US and the European Union together accounted for 79.5% of the new renewable capacity installed globally. Meanwhile, Africa’s added capacity amounted to just 1.6% of all global additions despite its capacity rising by a record 15.9%, driven by Ethiopia, South Africa, and Egypt. The Middle East also added a record annual renewable capacity – 28.9% more compared to 2024 – with Saudi Arabia driving the growth.While renewables now make up nearly half of global capacity, they contribute a smaller share of actual electricity generation – some 32% in 2024. Electricity is only one segment of total global energy, which remains dominated by fossil fuels used in heavy industry and long-haul transport like shipping and aviation......read on     https://earth.org/renewables-hit-nearly-half-of-global-power-capacity-in-2025/