The richest nations, including the G-7 countries, are increasingly investing in fossil fuel projects in developing countries like Bangladesh, obstructing global carbon emission reduction targets, said a report released by US-based Global Energy Monitor on Tuesday.
A press release issued on the occasion of releasing the report said that the global solar and wind power capacity grew by one-fifth past year.
G-7 countries contributed very little to this new capacity despite their commitments to facilitating renewable energy investments in climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, the press release said.
The report said that prospective solar and wind capacity grew by over 20 per cent in 2024 from 3.6 terawatts to 4.4TW, roughly equivalent to adding electricity from 400 large coal plants.
Still, just 10 per cent of these projects are being built by the Group of 7, despite these rich countries owning nearly half the world鈥檚 wealth, the press release said.
According to the report, China currently leads in potential solar and wind power capacity, surpassing 1.3TW, which accounts for more than one-fourth of the global total.
Following China, the other top countries include Brazil with 417 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, Australia with 372GW, the United States with 218GW and Spain with 144GW.
India has set a goal to generate nearly 130GW of solar and wind power in the coming years, with 35GW expected to be added to the grid by March 2025. Over the past year, India鈥檚 large-scale solar and wind capacity has increased by 50 per cent, indicating substantial investment in the renewable energy sector.
In contrast, G-7 countries 鈥� despite representing 45 per cent of the global gross domestic product 鈥� are currently constructing only 59GW of solar and wind power projects, a significantly smaller figure compared with China and the global total of 416GW.
The report also revealed that outside China, the construction of solar and wind projects slowed down.
As of December 2023, the solar and wind projects of 185GW were expected to become operational in 2024. However, globally, only 59 per cent of these projects has started generation as scheduled.
鈥楾he growth of wind and solar in the past year is promising, but the world needs to pick up the pace and bring these projects online much faster,鈥� the report said, quoting Diren Kocaku艧ak, research analyst for Global Energy Monitor, as saying.
