2020 was a record year for the global wind power industry, but a new report published by GWEC warns that the world needs to install new wind power capacity three times faster over the next decade to achieve global climate targets.The global wind industry installed a record 93 GW of new capacity in 2020 – a 53% year-on-year increase, showing strong resilience in the face of COVID-19.

Total global wind power capacity is now up to 743 GW, helping the world to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 annually – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of South America.

However, the world needs to be installing a minimum of 180 GW of new wind energy every single year to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, meaning that the industry and policymakers need to act fast to accelerate deployment.

Governments across the world must take a ‘climate emergency’ approach to eliminate red tape and planning delays and expand grid infrastructure to further scale-up wind power at the pace required

Wind power is a cornerstone of achieving net zero and powering a green recovery as a cost-competitive, resilient power source with the most decarbonisation potential per MW.

2020 was the best year in history for the global wind industry with 93 GW of new capacity installed – a 53 per cent year-on-year increase – but a new report published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) warns that this growth is not sufficient to ensure the world achieves net zero by 2050. According to the Global Wind Report 2021, GWEC’s 16th annual flagship report, the world needs to be installing wind power three times faster over the next decade in order to stay on a net zero pathway and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Through technology innovations and economies of scale, the global wind power market has nearly quadrupled in size over the past decade and established itself as one of the most cost-competitive and resilient power sources across the world. In 2020, record growth was driven by a surge of installations in China and the US – the world’s two largest wind power markets – who together installed 75 per cent of the new installations in 2020 and account for over half of the world’s total wind power capacity.

Today, there is now 743 GW of wind power capacity worldwide, helping to avoid over 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 globally – equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of South America.

Yet, as the clean energy technology with the most decarbonisation potential per MW, the report shows that the current rate of wind power deployment will not be enough to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of this century, and urgent action must be taken by policymakers now to scale up wind power at the necessary pace.

According to the scenarios that have been established by international energy bodies such as IRENA and the IEA, the world needs to be installing a minimum of 180 GW of new wind energy every year to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and will need to install up to 280 GW annually to maintain a pathway compliant with meeting net zero by 2050. This means that the industry and policymakers need to work collaboratively and act fast to accelerate deployment

GWEC is calling on policymakers to take a true ‘climate emergency’ approach to allow a faster ramp up including:

Eliminating red tape and reforming administrative structures in order to speed up and streamline licensing and permitting for projects

Carry out a massive increase in investments in grid, ports and other infrastructure needed to allow the ramp up in installations

Re-vamp energy markets to ensure that they account for the true social costs of polluting fossil fuels and facilitate a rapid transition to a system based on renewable energy

Annex

Top 10 Onshore Wind Markets for New Capacity in 2020

China – 48,940 MW

US – 16,913 MW

Brazil – 2,297 MW

Norway – 1,532 MW

Germany – 1,431 MW

Spain – 1,400 MW

France – 1,317 MW

Turkey – 1,224 MW

India – 1,119 MW

Australia – 1,097 MW

Top 10 Onshore Wind Markets for Cumulative Capacity

China – 278,324 MW

US – 122,275 MW

Germany – 55,122 MW

India – 38,625 MW

Spain – 27,238 MW

France – 17,946 MW

Brazil – 17,750 MW

United Kingdom – 13,731 MW

Canada – 13,578 MW

Italy – 10,543 MW

Top 5 Offshore Wind Markets for New Capacity in 2020

China – 3,060 MW

Netherlands – 1,493 MW

Belgium – 706 MW

United Kingdom – 483 MW

Germany – 237 MW

Top 5 Offshore Wind Markets for Cumulative Capacity

United Kingdom – 10,206 MW

China – 9,996 MW

Germany – 7,728 MW

Netherlands – 2,611 MW

Belgium – 2,262 MW