"Renewables have a major part to play in curbing global emissions and providing universal access to affordable, secure, sustainable and modern energy," said the IEA in a statement as marches take place across the globe calling for action on climate change. It noted that last year was the first since 2001 that growth in renewable power capacity failed to accelerate year on year, largely due to a change in Chinese government policy. "This highlights the critical role of governments for the deployment of renewables and the need to avoid sudden policy changes that can result in strong market volatility," it said.
According to the IEA's calculations more than 300 GW of renewable energy production needs to be added every year on average to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the growth in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius. The cost of electricity produced by different renewables has plunged in recent years to make them increasingly competitive against fossil fuels.