IRENA Pathway Calls for 18.4 TW of Global Renewable Power Capacity by 2035

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says its updated 1.5°C pathway depends on a much larger global power system, with installed renewable power capacity reaching 18.4 terawatts (TW) by 2035. The scenario links that expansion with a growing role for electricity and greater investment in supporting infrastructure.

IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook 2026, published Oct. 13, puts electricity at about 23% of global final energy use today. That share rises to 35% in 2035 and above 50% by 2050 in the pathway, which also sets global installed renewable power capacity at 38.2 TW by 2050. The 18.4 TW figure is a modeled requirement in the scenario, not the separate 2030 pledge associated with COP28.

The COP28 UAE Consensus calls for global renewable power capacity to triple by 2030. IRENA’s benchmark for that goal is 11.2 TW. At the end of 2025, global renewable power capacity stood at 5,149 gigawatts (GW), after 692 GW of additions during the year. That was a 15.5% annual increase, and renewables represented 85.6% of new power capacity installed in 2025. The 2025 figures describe the capacity reached and added that year; the 11.2 TW benchmark applies to 2030, while the 18.4 TW scenario level applies to 2035.

IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said Monday, Oct. 26, the world would nearly meet the 2030 benchmark but fall short. “We will not get there exactly but very close to it,” La Camera said on the sidelines of Singapore International Energy Week. He pointed to greater heating and cooling demand and artificial intelligence as contributors to faster-than-expected energy demand growth.

IRENA’s related roadmap says average yearly investment in global grids would need to rise to about $1 trillion in 2026–2035, compared with $0.5 trillion in 2025. It sets global installed storage capacity at 2,530 GW by 2035, up from 416 GW in 2025.