All Things Renewable

The global energy transition is entering a new, decisive phase. Renewable deployment is at record levels and renewables are the cheapest source of new power, yet progress remains too slow and uneven. Scaling generation is only part of the challenge: grids lag, demand surges, and efficiency gains fall short of what is required. IRENA’s flagship World Energy Transition Outlook 2026, published ahead of COP31, addresses this. Its lead authors, Ricardo Gorini, Head of Energy and Socio-Economic Outlooks, and Gondia Sokhna Seck, Team Lead for Energy Transition and Socio-economic Impacts, set out why success goes beyond technology choices, and how integrated, system-wide approach can deliver the energy systems of tomorrow.

Despite a record 693 gigawatts of power capacity added globally in 2025, the pace of growth is insufficient. Meeting the tripling renewables target requires building more renewable capacity between 2026 and 2030 than in all previous years combined. What will it take to close the gap? Increasingly, the answer is not in the competitiveness of the technology itself but rather in the energy system built around it. Aleksi Lumijarvi, Director of the Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre (KPFC), explores what it takes to build tomorrow's electricity markets, from modern, flexible grids to the regulatory reforms needed to power a renewable-based future.

Sub-Saharan Africa holds some of the world's largest renewable energy potential, yet around 560 million people in the region still live without access to electricity. In this episode, Kamlesh Dookayka and Mamadou Goundiam, IRENA experts on Sub-Saharan Africa, explore how the region can move beyond untapped potential to deploy its vast resource base at scale. They examine the structural barriers holding projects back, the role of long-term planning at the national and continental level, and what countries and communities stand to gain when renewables deliver reliable energy, economic development and lasting local value.

Each country charts its own energy transition pathway. Across Southeast Asia, countries are balancing rising energy demand, import dependence and climate commitments, and renewables are emerging as a reliable solution. Karanpreet Kaur, Country Engagement Officer for Asia, explains how local circumstances shape each nation's approach. She explores how governments turn strengths into opportunities, why cross-border cooperation matters, and how the Accelerated Partnership for Renewable Energy in Southeast Asia (APRESA) helps to translate ambition into action to empower communities while building low-carbon economies. Follow IRENA under #TransitionPathways to see how local action powers regional progress.

No two countries follow the same energy transition pathway, yet renewable energy is emerging as a common solution across them all. In this episode, Binu Parthan, Deputy Director, Country Engagement and Partnerships (CEP), explains why local circumstances such as geography, resources and economic development shape each nation's approach to the energy transition. He explores how countries turn local strengths into renewable opportunities, why renewables prove relevant across diverse priorities, and how knowledge sharing accelerates progress worldwide. Follow IRENA this summer under #TransitionPathways to see how local action powers global change. 

In 2025, the world added a record 693 gigawatts of renewable power capacity, alongside record growth in renewable electricity generation. But what do these numbers really tell us? In this episode, Julian Prime, Head of Statistics at IRENA, unpacks the concepts of capacity and generation with examples. He also explains how the numbers translate into a story of progress towards a sustainable energy future.

As geopolitical tensions rise, energy demand grows and fossil fuel markets grow volatile, the global energy transition is entering a new phase, with electrification and renewable power emerging as the foundation of future energy systems. In this episode, Ricardo Gorini, Head of IRENA's Energy and Socioeconomic Outlooks Unit, draws on IRENA’s new report  Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels: A Roadmap Powered by Renewables, Electrification and Grid Enhancement to explain why electrification powered by renewables is becoming the next frontier of the energy transition. He unpacks the case for a global target of 35% electrification by 2035, the benefits reaching well beyond emissions from energy security and competitiveness to cleaner air and new jobs, and why modern grids have become a bottleneck the transition cannot afford to ignore.

Trucks and buses keep the global economy moving, yet 94% still run on fossil fuels and the sector accounts for around 40% of road transport emissions. In this episode, Dr Lakshmi Supriya, Patent Analytics Officer at WIPO, and Jaidev Dhavle, Associate Programme Officer at IRENA, draw on the new joint WIPO–IRENA Patent Landscape Report: Decarbonizing Heavy-Duty Road Transport to examine what patent data reveals about innovation in the sector. They unpack why patents matter for the energy transition, the rise of battery-electric and hydrogen technologies, where innovation is concentrated, and the policy and investment shifts needed to turn this momentum into real impact.

The energy transition cannot succeed without the people to deliver it. Yet as deployment accelerates, a growing skills gap threatens to slow progress. With 40% of the world's population under 25, the opportunity to build that workforce has never been greater. In this episode, Samah Elsayed, Programme Officer leading IRENA's work on education, discusses the skills the transition demands and how IRENA is shaping energy education globally, from training educators to building local and digital capacities. She also examines the qualification gaps that still hold progress back, and why inclusion is as important as investment.For more on IRENA’s Education initiatives: https://www.irena.org/Education-and-Skills

The Middle East conflict has severely disrupted the global economy and exposed the fragility of fossil fuel supply chains. From fuel shortages to supply chain shocks, energy security is being redefined. Countries that invested early in renewables are proving more resilient, showing that security is less about securing fuels and more about ensuring access to technologies, materials and industrial know-how. In this episode, Ann-Kathrin Lipponer, Associate Programme Officer for Innovation and Supply Chains at IRENA, discusses what countries should do to secure a sustainable energy future, the new risks they may face, and why international partnerships are key to success.