Global green energy growth on course but lags target, says International Renewable Energy Agency official

Singh, however, expressed optimism about the overall trajectory in the green energy space, noting that the transition remains on course due to the “strong business case” for renewables. 

“We are in a very challenging space geopolitically, but we are making good progress towards meeting the tripling target for 2030. I won’t say it’s sufficient, but it’s quite optimistic,” Singh said in an interview.

“We are at about 4.5 terrawatts. We need to be nearly 11 terawatts (11,000 GW) by 2030. That would require a growth of about 16% plus, and we are not there as yet. We need to deploy at least 1,100 GW every year, and last year, which was a record globally, we had a deployment of about 485 GW of renewable power,” she said.

At the COP28 or United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2023, global leaders committed to tripling the renewable energy capacity to 11 terawatts.

Investment in sustainable sources

The IRENA DDG also stressed the need to reduce the disparity in terms of investments in sustainable and green power sources worldwide. Citing IRENA data, Singh noted that out of the total green power investments made in 2023, about 84% went to China, the European Union, and the US.

“There is a very clear geographical disparity in terms of where the investments are going. If you look at the developing countries, they definitely remain quite underfunded… Investments in Africa in 2023 fell by almost half from about $9 billion to about $4.7 billion. That’s a huge fall in terms of investments going into developing countries in Africa,” she said.

Singh, a senior IAS officer, also weighed in on the need for low-cost capital for developing countries, apart from the need for funds. While emphasizing that the quantum of investments and funds has to be larger than the current levels, she added that the cost of capital has to be lower.

“For developing countries, the cost of capital remains quite high and there are also currency risks that serve to dampen the investments that go into the market,” she said.

She noted that India has been a key emerging market, which has shown momentum in fund deployment and renewable energy capacity addition.

In FY25, India added a total of 33 GW of power generation capacity, out of which about 29.5 GW came from renewable energy sources, according to government data.

According to data from Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), the share of renewable energy in India’s total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose from 1% in FY21 to 8% in FY 2024-25.

Further, India’s green energy sector attracted $3.4 billion in FDI in the first three quarters of FY25, nearly matching the total FDI inflows for the whole of FY24.

Rare earths concern

On growing concerns over the supply chain for rare earth elements—especially after China’s export ban on rare earth magnets—Singh said regional cooperation and strategic alliances are essential. There are no short-term fixes.

“There has to be a medium to long-term kind of plan that has to be put in place. There has to be visibility for investors to be able to put in capital, to be able to provide that kind of diversification and resilience that we need for the supply and to be able to produce in India many of the critical minerals or to process to the level that we need them,” she said.

Auto and renewable energy industries across the globe are facing a rare earth magnet supply crunch after China, which dominates the global critical mineral supply chain, announced the ban.

Noting that India has the technical potential to mine critical minerals, Singh said a strong policy and regulatory framework are key for scaling up.

Regarding energy security concerns, the deputy director general said that until energy storage systems, including batteries, become cost- effective, conventional sources like coal and nuclear would continue to play a key role in baseload capacity. Baseload power refers to the minimum amount of electric power needed to be supplied to the electrical grid at any given time.

“Energy security has become a very major concern of most of the countries and that is leading the counties to think afresh about how they are viewing energy security in the coming years and because of geopolitical challenge that comes up… Till we have storage happening at very competitive rates at utility scale, there is an important aspect for counties who need to make sure that the lights stay on and there’s also this very strong angle of energy security that has become very dominant in energy discussions.”

Several countries, including India, have ramped up their conventional power generation capacities in tandem with the green power addition, amid rising demand and geopolitical challenges. India aims to add 80 GW of coal-based power generation capacity by 2032 to meet the surging power demand. The government is also looking at increasing the share of nuclear power in the overall energy basket.

On the recent blackouts in Europe, where green power plays a key role, she said energy transition cannot be without glitches. “These are things that will happen. These are realities of the world.”

The focus must be on developing the foundation for building energy systems that can integrate more renewables. “I think that’s the direction we have to take and not get lost in short-term things that we are seeing.”