A new analysis from Ember finds that the world is on track to add record levels of renewable energy again in 2025, meaning only a modest rise in annual additions is needed to triple global renewables by 2030.

New Ember analysis of monthly solar and wind deployment data up to September shows that 2025 is in for another record year, driven primarily by solar. The report shows that 793GW of renewables capacity is expected to be added during 2025, a rise of 11 per cent, compared to 717 GW in 2024. This builds off rapid growth of 22 per cent in 2023 and 66 per cent in 2022. Solar additions are projected to rise by 9 per cent and wind by 21 per cent, although solar additions are expected to grow more in absolute terms.

However, despite the rapid acceleration on the ground, global governments’ 2030 targets remain aligned with only a doubling of renewable capacity, creating uncertainty over whether tripling will be achieved.

The fast rises in additions in 2023, 2024 and now 2025, annual additions do not need to continue to grow fast. To achieve the global tripling target, renewable capacity additions needed to rise by 21 per cent every year from 2023 to 2030, and so far they have averaged 29 per cent annually from 2023 to 2025, so additions now only need to rise by 12 per cent per year from 2026 to 2030.

Yet, updated national renewable targets still aim for just over a doubling, falling short of a tripling. The sum of global national renewable targets for 2030 has only increased by 8 per cent since 2022.

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