IEA – 85% solar deployment rise curbed global emissions in 2023

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
A BMR Energy solar project in Guatemala.
The IEA said that the world deployed 420GW of solar PV capacity in 2023, a vast 85% increase from the 228GW installed in 2022. Image: BMR Energy

Solar PV deployments increased by 85% year-on-year in 2023, more than any other renewable technology in a year which saw clean energy deployments curb the rise in carbon emissions. This is according to two reports published this week by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

In combination, the Clean Energy Market Monitor and CO2 Emissions Report documents show that, despite global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reaching record highs in 2023, the acceleration of renewable energy deployments – led by solar PV – staid the increase in harmful emissions considerably.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

According to the IEA, the world deployed 420GW of solar PV capacity in 2023, a vast 85% increase from the 228GW installed in 2022. 261GW of this new capacity was deployed in China, followed by the European Union (53GW), the US (32GW) and India (12GW). Aside from India, all of the above saw significant increases in their capacity additions YoY – once again China left all other markets in the dust, rising 261% from 100GW in 2022 to 261GW in 2023.

India’s drop-off was due to a decline in government auction volumes for solar PV capacity in preceding years, which has left 2023 deployment figures wanting.  

This explosion in deployments was partially made possible by the steep decline in solar module prices that occurred over 2023, driven by Chinese manufacturers. The IEA figures serve as a reminder that, whilst much industry coverage of price declines has focused on the challenges this creates for the manufacturers themselves – such as PV Tech Premium’s recent interview with leading producer JinkoSolar –  declining prices are a boon for global renewable energy deployments.

These towering deployment figures build on an IEA report from January which said that electricity generation from low-carbon sources (solar, wind, nuclear, hydro etc.) would be sufficient to account for all electricity demand growth until 2026.

117GW of wind power, 5.5GW of nuclear power and 108GW of heat pump sales also contributed to 2023’s sum total of deployments, the IEA said.

A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in January showed that US$1.8 trillion of investment went towards renewable energy generation and storage in 2023, an increase which is welcome but insufficient to reach net zero targets. By contrast, the same report found that investment into solar manufacturing capacity had exceeded the levels necessary for all capacity additions through 2030.

Carbon emissions

The IEA’s CO2 report shows that global carbon emissions rose 1.1% in 2023, reaching a historic high. Whilst this is concerning news in terms of overall efforts to tackle climate change, the comparative rise in emissions is lower than in 2022 (1.3%). Without the expansion of renewable deployments, this figure would have been significantly higher, the IEA said, as the world would have been forced to rely more heavily on fossil fuels.

IEA’s data also contains a large caveat: global droughts – in China, the US and several other regions – caused a steep drop-off in hydropower generation over 2023. Over 40% of the rise in emissions was accounted for by the absence of expected hydropower capacity, as governments turned to fossil fuels to fill a gap that would otherwise have been filled with low-emissions technology.

Had these droughts not occurred, the IEA said that global emissions from electricity generation would have fallen, which would in turn have significantly lessened the increase in total emissions.

Since 2019, the overall growth of renewable energy capacity has more than doubled that of fossil fuels, the IEA said. A BNEF report published last week predicted that 2024 would see that trend continue, particularly for solar PV – the analyst firm predicted that this year could end with 655GWdc of new solar capacity on the ground.  

25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

June 10, 2025
Australia’s Queensland government has confirmed an AU$2.4 billion investment in the CopperString transmission project, aiming to extend the National Electricity Market (NEM) to the North West Minerals Province.
Premium
June 9, 2025
N-type polysilicon prices have dropped to RMB34,000/ton as the project installation rush ends, putting cost pressure on the industrial chain.
June 9, 2025
Sonnedix has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Renfe to supply 420GWh of renewable energy annually for its commercial operations.
June 9, 2025
Growing political headwinds threaten to dent US solar manufacturing and project deployment, despite a strong start to 2025.
June 6, 2025
rPlus Energies has secured more than US$500 million for an 800MW solar-plus-storage project in Emery County, Utah, US.  
June 6, 2025
Eternal Sun has acquired German solar simulator provider Wavelabs, which has resulted in the formation of a new subsidy, Wavelabs Eternal Sun.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
June 17, 2025
Napa, USA
Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece