‘Staggering’ green growth gives hope for 1.5C, says global energy chief

A view of a research project on organic fruit cultivation under solar panels, in Gelsdorf, Germany. Photograph: Christopher Neundorf/EPA

The prospects of the world staying within the 1.5C limit on global heating have brightened owing to the “staggering” growth of renewable energy and green investment in the past two years, the chief of the world’s energy watchdog has said.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, and the world’s foremost energy economist, said much more needed to be done but that the rapid uptake of solar power and electric vehicles were encouraging.