The world may be reaching a “crucial turning point” in the shift towards clean power, a think tank said as its analysis showed renewable generation overtook coal globally for the first time on record.<\/p>\n
Solar and wind outpaced the growth in global electricity demand in the first half of 2025, according to Ember, a global energy research organisation.<\/p>\n
The team analysed monthly electricity data from 88 countries, representing 93% of global demand, and then estimated changes in the remaining generation to form a worldwide picture.<\/p>\n
It found that renewables generated more power than coal for the first time, and that overall, both coal and gas generation saw a slight decline globally, compared to the first six months of 2024.<\/p>\n
Senior electricity analyst at Ember Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka said: “We are seeing the first signs of a crucial turning point.<\/p>\n
“Solar and wind are now growing fast enough to meet the world’s growing appetite for electricity.<\/p>\n
“This marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth.”<\/p>\n
The findings indicate that global electricity demand rose 2.6% in the first half of 2025 – up 369 terawatt hours (TWh) compared to the first half of last year.<\/p>\n
But in terms of supply, renewables generated 5,072 TWh of global electricity – which marked an increase of 4,709 TWh from the first six months of 2024, Ember said.<\/p>\n
This means renewables were found to have overtaken coal generation at 4,896 TWh, which was down by 0.3% or 31 TWh year-on-year.<\/p>\n
The analysis also suggests that solar and wind together grew quickly enough that they can now meet total demand growth in some circumstances, while fossil fuels saw a global decline.<\/p>\n
Solar met 83% of the rise because of a record growth in generation in absolute terms, equating to 306 terawatt hours and a 31% year-on-year rise, Ember said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the total decline in fossil fuel generation was found to be 0.3% – a reduction of 27 TWh.<\/p>\n
As a result, Ember estimates that global power sector emissions fell by 0.2% in the first six months of 2025.<\/p>\n
The researchers said the drop is modest but significant and that the rise of renewables will likely outstrip demand growth for longer and longer periods.<\/p>\n
In terms of the four biggest economies, China and India both saw fossil generation fall in the first half of 2025 as clean power growth outpaced demand.<\/p>\n
By contrast, fossil generation rose in the US and the EU, with the former’s demand growth outpacing clean power and the latter seeing weaker wind and hydro output.<\/p>\n
Chief executive of Global Solar Council Sonia Dunlop said: “This analysis confirms what we are witnessing on the ground: solar and wind are no longer marginal technologies – they are driving the global power system forward.<\/p>\n
“The fact that renewables have overtaken coal for the first time marks a historic shift.<\/p>\n
“But to lock in this progress, governments and industry must accelerate investment in solar, wind, and battery storage, ensuring that clean, affordable, and reliable electricity reaches communities everywhere.”<\/p>\n
Head of secretariat at the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), Julia Skorupska, said: “Renewables overtaking coal for the very first time is a sign of how the economics of power generation have been transformed.<\/p>\n
“There is a clear economic case for replacing coal with renewables, which are now the cheapest forms of energy in most of the world.<\/p>\n
“The transition from coal to renewables underpins competitiveness, enables energy security, creates good jobs and lowers electricity prices and air pollution risks for citizens.<\/p>\n
“With COP30 around the corner, countries have the opportunity to work together to accelerate this shift.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world may be reaching a “crucial turning point” in the shift towards clean power, a think tank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-66356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}