According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the growth rate for renewables must double in order to meet global emission goals.
The good news? Renewables are already cost competitive in many situations, with technology costs continuing to fall and the potential for economic applications continuing to grow. Governments must create the enabling policy framework to spur the acceleration of the transition, including long-term stability for private investments in renewables. And, IRENA found that an aggressive switch to renewables in order to avoid catastrophic climate impact would create more jobs than lost by fossil fuel industries, and spark a 0.8% bump in global GDP.
The bad news? The capex price tag is $29 trillion between now and 2050.
These graphs, tables and charts are from the illuminating IRENA study “Perspectives for the energy transition” which can be read in full here.
