2024 Year in Review: WMO–IRENA Climate-driven Global Renewable Energy Resources and Energy Demand Review
- WMO–IRENA 2024 Year in Review highlights growing impacts of climate extremes on clean power systems
- Climate variability is already shaping renewable energy supply and electricity demand worldwide
- Extreme heat is driving rapid growth in energy demand, increasing system stress
- Hydropower is particularly exposed to rainfall variability
- Climate-informed planning and forecasting are essential
The third edition of the report finds that 2024—the warmest year on record, with global temperatures reaching around 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels—brought pronounced regional shifts in solar, wind and hydropower potential, alongside a 4% increase in climate-driven global energy demand compared with the 1991–2020 average.
These climate-driven changes are occurring as global renewable energy capacity surpassed 4,400 gigawatts (GW), amplifying the interaction between climate conditions and energy systems at an unprecedented scale.
The findings underscore the urgency of integrating climate intelligence into energy planning as countries work to deliver on the COP28 UAE Consensus, which calls for tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030.
About the WMO-IRENA Renewable Energy Reports series
The WMO-IRENA Renewable Energy Reports are jointly produced by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), operated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
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