Doubling the share of renewables in the global energy mix to 36% by 2030 could save the world economy up to $4.2trillion a year, according to new research by the international Renewable Energy agency (IRENA).
Wind and solar accounted for around 18% of global energy consumption in 2014.
This is expected to reach 21% by 2030.
Doubling the current share could also help achieve a global target to limit the rise in the global average temperature to below two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, which was agreed at a summit in Paris last year.
The report said the cost of doubling the renewable share by 2030 would be $290 billion a year, but the annual net savings from reducing pollution and emissions on human health and agriculture would be between $1.2 trillion and $4.2 trillion.
“Achieving a doubling is not only feasible, it is cheaper than not doing so,” IRENA’s director general Adnan Amin said in a statement.
“It would create more jobs, save millions of lives from reduced air pollution and set us on a pathway to limit global temperature rise to two degrees as agreed in Paris,” he added.
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