Yet despite this scale-up in market share — slightly higher than 2022’s 83 percent — countries may not be able to meet near-term goals, according to the report, released Wednesday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).  

Francesco La Camera, IRENA director-general, described the increase in a statement as an “extraordinary surge in renewable generation,” noting the sector’s ability “to rapidly scale up the energy transition.” 

But he qualified his enthusiasm with a warning “that progress is not moving fast enough to add the required 7.2 TW of renewable power within the next seven years.”  

Those 7.2 terawatts — or 7,200 gigawatts — of renewables were deemed critical in IRENA’s 2023 World Energy Transitions Outlook, which sought to pinpoint changes the power sector must undertake in order to meet established mid-century climate targets.  

Countries added 473 gigawatts of renewables in 2023, bringing the planet’s total capacity in the sector up to 3,870 gigawatts, per the report. In 2022, countries added 295 gigawatts to the array.  

The expansion in 2023 was led by Asia, which was responsible for 69 percent of the new installations — driven predominantly by China, according to the report.  

The IRENA analysis identified “a glaring gap with other regions, leaving a vast majority of developing countries behind, despite massive economic and development needs.” 

Although Africa has experienced some growth in the sector, the continent has reached a total capacity of only 62 gigawatts, the report found.  

“Policy interventions and a global course-correction are urgently needed to effectively overcome structural barriers,” La Camera added. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I’m Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.

Establishing marine protected areas could deliver a slew of economic benefits to fishing and tourism industries, new research has determined.  

Protection and profit: Examining more than 50 protected areas in more than 30 countries, the study — published in Scientia Marina on Wednesday — identified such advantages in every single scenario. 

• The diverse set of ecosystems included in the study were located in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
• The marine protected areas all boosted either fishing or tourism, sometimes generating billions of dollars in profits.  

Opportunity overlooked: “In every corner of the globe, ocean protection boosts economies,” author Mark John Costello, a professor at Norway’s Nord University, said in a statement.  

“For far too long, marine parks have been overlooked as GDP generators and job creators,” Costello added.   

An array of ecosystems: To determine the extent of these potential benefits, Costello reviewed 200 studies that covered 51 marine protected areas across the world.  

• Among the ecosystems were coral reefs, kelp forests, mangroves, rocky reefs, salt marshes and mudflats.
• The areas used a variety of protection methods, with some allowing or limiting human activities and others banning them altogether, according to the study.  

The benefits of bans: The study identified economic advantages for fisheries in 25 countries adjacent to the North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific and Indian oceans.  

• Forty-six, or 90 percent, of fisheries adjacent to protected areas experienced industry benefits.
• The protected areas that delivered the biggest boost to the sector were those in which fishing was banned.    

Tourism from tropics to temperate: Tourism in 24 countries in tropical and sub-tropical locations, as well as in temperate regions, earned financial gains from their marine protected areas. 

Coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass ecosystems were the most profitable, with some of these zones generating billions of dollars in revenue each year, per the study.