The presidency of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in Dubai (November 30-December 12), has called for agreement on a global target of tripling renewable energy capacity from current levels by 2030. This figure appears in the G-20 declaration too, though only as an aspirational goal to be encouraged.
There is an undoubted win-win appeal to the proposal of this easily understandable global target. However, any serious deconstruction of this target should significantly dampen such enthusiasm.
In 2021, the global installed capacity of renewable energy sources (RES) for electricity generation was 3026 Giga Watts (GW), or 39% of the total capacity from all sources. In total electricity generation however, the contribution by RES was only 28%. More than half the RE generation was from hydropower, while solar (13%) and wind (23%) accounted for about 36% of RE generation, that is 10% of generation from all sources.
