Only eight countries update RE targets Post-COP28

They are all EU countries.

From over 130 countries who made a commitment to triple renewables capacity by 2030 in COP28, only eight have updated their targets, with a net increase of four gigawatts (GW). This brings the target additional capacity by 2030 to 7,242 GW.

According to Ember’s “In 12 months the renewables market has moved but governments have not,”  the 4 GW increase was from a decline in wind targets and an increase in solar goals. The updates were minor as the earlier targets were part of draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) and the new ones were adjustments made in the final NECPs.

The think tank said targets it analysed were from the Ember 2030 Global Renewable Target Tracker which tracks data from 96 countries and one region (the EU) representing 96% of global renewable capacity and 95% of electricity demand.

“The lack of updates for renewable targets is likely tied to structural factors, including the election timings and governance cycles,” Ember said.

Ember said the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2025 present a critical opportunity to solidify the global goal of tripling renewable capacity.

“These NDCs, operating outside of national political cycles, offer a unified mechanism for setting ambitious targets across countries within the same timeline, providing an important signal that progress toward tripling is on track,” it said.