Global Wind Power Must Gather Speed to Meet Climate Goals, Report Finds

Pandemic-related supply chain problems slowed the rollout of new wind power in 2021, as the sector lags far behind the capacity needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and meet net zero emission targets, an industry report said on Monday.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) report comes ahead of a U.N. report to be published later on Monday that is expected to tell policymakers a huge ramp up in low carbon technology, such as renewable power, is needed if goals set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement are to be met.

“We are not currently on-track to meet the objectives of net zero by 2050 or the aims of the Paris Agreement. For wind energy alone, we should be installing four times the current level of annual installations to stay on a net zero pathway,” Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC said.

By the end of 2021, total global wind power capacity was 837 gigawatts (GW) the report said, compared with the roughly 3,200 GW needed by 2030, the report said.

Some 93.6 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity was installed globally in 2021, down from a record 95.3 GW the previous year, with many projects slowed by COVID 19-related supply chain issues, the report said.

The world’s top five markets in 2021 for new installations in order of size were China, the United States, Brazil, Vietnam, and Britain. Combined, they made up 75.1 percent of global installations last year, GWEC said.

LONDON (Reuters)