Set up renewable energy in developing world — report

PARIS, France — Renewable power must be increased more rapidly in developing countries to ensure the energy transition necessary to limit global warming, according to a new report released Monday.

The latest finding came from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), published shortly before the world convenes in Dubai for COP28.

"Given their growing electricity demand and the important role of renewables in addressing the significant energy access deficit in these countries" renewables must be boosted, said IRENA.

Renewable power generation must triple globally by 2030, said one of its key recommendations.

That was required to bring it in line with the ambitious goals set by COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber for the UN climate conference held from November 30 to December 12.

The target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement was to try to cap Earth's temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

The world must also mobilise to reach 1,300 billion dollars annually in renewable energy investments by 2030, compared to 486 billion dollars in 2022, said the report.

But to do so it will be necessary to "minimise investment risks and provide access to low-cost financing" in developing countries, it added.

To support the Global South in its energy transition, the IRENA report recommended a reform of global financial systems.

The "climate-related funding from multilateral development banks must be ramped up, and public capital should be redirected from the fossil fuels sector to renewable energy", it said.

Africa received just two percent (60 billion dollars) of the cumulative 2,841 billion dollars invested in renewable energy worldwide between 2000-2020, the report noted.

What was needed to change that were innovative financial models -- such as scaling up public-private partnerships to drive the modernisation of electricity infrastructure in developing nations.

"There is an urgent need to boost cross-sector infrastructure planning, increase cross-border co-operation and develop regional power grids" it said.