Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have teamed up to tackle the urgent issue of climate change by creating a roadmap to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030. The two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the UAE Climate Tech Forum in Abu Dhabi, paving the way for a “major international knowledge project” to achieve their ambitious goal.
The project will focus on establishing a global baseline for renewable energy, with a special emphasis on solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and other technologies including battery storage, supplemented by region-specific data. It will also identify the challenges facing different regions in their efforts to meet their renewable energy goals and provide recommendations for action, especially in the context of COP28.
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HE Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Chairman of Masdar, and COP28 president-designate, said that the world must commit to tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and doubling it again by 2040. Masdar has already pledged to increase its total capacity five-fold to 100GW by the end of the decade, and this joint research project with IRENA will highlight the vital role of renewable energy in limiting global warming when the world comes together at COP28.
Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA, added that the transition to renewables offers a sustainable and affordable solution to many of the challenges we face today, and we have the technology to deploy at speed and scale. In 2022, a record 300GW of renewables were added, and renewable power now accounts for 40% of total installed generation capacity globally. However, despite this progress, the energy transition is off track, and the deployment of renewables must reach 1000GW annually to keep the 1.5°C target alive, according to IRENA's World Energy Transitions Outlook.
Masdar, established in 2006, is active in over 40 countries and has invested in a portfolio of renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of around 20 GW. This collaboration with IRENA is a significant step towards achieving their shared vision of a sustainable future powered by renewable energy.
