Renewable energy supply in eight major economies will see more than two-fold increase by 2030 due to a new national climate and energy plans, a study by the think tank World Resources Institute (WRI) reported.
Total clean energy supply from eight of the world's 10 largest greenhouse gas emitters -- Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and the United States -- will jump to 20,000 terawatt hours (TWh) from around 9,000 TWh in 2009. This is equivalent to India's current energy demand.
"These new renewable energy, targets send strong signals to energy markets and investment circles," said Jennifer Morgan, Global Director of Climate Program at WRI.
"Combined with the Paris climate agreement, it's clear that renewable energy is poised to surge forward in the next 15 years bringing clean and affordable power to millions of people worldwide," she added.
These economies are among many that have announced new renewable targets in the past 12 months ahead of a United Nations climate conference in Paris from 30 November to 11 December to combat global warming from 2020.
Canada and Russia, which are also among the world's top 10 emitting countries, were not included in the study because they have not announced post-2020 renewable energy targets.
So far, plans submitted by nearly 150 countries to the UN to cut greenhouse gases will only slow climate change and not limit rising global temperatures to two degrees Celsius -- a threshold seen by scientists as avoiding the worst effects of climate change.
