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Clean energy generation surpassed the global rise in electricity demand in 2025, pushing fossil fuel power into reverse for the first time ever, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
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Record growth in solar<\/a>, especially in China and India, was a driving factor.<\/p>\n Clean power generation grew 887 terawatt hours last year, exceeding overall global electricity demand growth of 849 terawatt hours, according to a report by energy think tank Ember, released today (Tuesday 21 April).<\/p>\n Ember analyses electricity data from 215 countries, and studied 2025 data for 91 countries, which the firm says represents 93 per cent of global demand.<\/p>\n Overall, the share of renewables<\/a> \u2013 including solar, wind, hydropower and other clean energies \u2013 hit more than one-third of the world’s electricity mix for the first time in modern history last year, growing 33.8 per cent to 10,730 terawatt hours.<\/p>\n It\u2019s promising news for a world embattled by climate change that\u2019s driven by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to meet growing needs from economic growth, rising populations and electrification. The analysis is also especially timely amid a global energy crisis<\/a> exacerbated by the US war in Iran.<\/p>\n In another historical first, coal power<\/a> saw its share fall below one-third of global generation, dropping 0.6 per cent to 63 terawatt hours.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re coming from a period over the last few decades where new electricity demand growth meant growth in fossil generation<\/a>,\u201d says Nicolas Fulghum, Ember senior data analyst and lead author of the report. \u201cWe\u2019re now moving into a world where that\u2019s no longer the case.<\/p>\n \u201cMilestones like renewables overtaking coal mark an occasion, but they don\u2019t tell us everything about the story in the power sector,\u201d Fulghum adds. \u201cThe big difference to 10, 15 years ago, where governments were pledging a build out of renewables, is that now those pledges are much more believable.\u201d<\/p>\n Solar and wind gain on nuclear, fossil fuels fall<\/p>\n Solar<\/a>, which grew 30 per cent in 2025, alone met three-quarters of last year’s net rise in electricity demand \u2013 and combined with wind power generation, met 99 per cent of it.<\/p>\n Though solar overtook wind power globally for the first time last year, and gained on nuclear power<\/a>, Ember expects the two to overtake nuclear this year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, fossil fuel generation essentially halted, and fell about 0.2 per cent in 2025, or 38 terawatt hours \u2013 making last year one of only a handful of years without a rise this century.<\/p>\n Growth in battery storage accompanied the acceleration of solar around the world; as battery costs fell 45 per cent last year, storage grew 46 per cent in 2025. Ember estimates that enough battery capacity was added last year to shift 14 per cent of the solar generation<\/a> added from midday to other hours of the day.<\/p>\n That\u2019s an important part of using solar generation beyond the daytime, when it can be collected.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the accelerated growth and electricity demand that comes with added electric vehicle build out, of heat pumps, industrial sector electrification, clean power will be able to structurally meet that increase in demand going into the next few years, before then bending the curve and reducing the amount of fossil generation we\u2019re using,\u201d Fulghum says. “And that is a stark departure from the last few decades.\u201d<\/p>\n China and India ‘aggressively pursue’ energy diversification<\/p>\n Last year also marked the first time this century that both China<\/a> and India \u2013 historically major contributors of fossil power \u2013 saw declines in fossil fuel generation. In China, the decline was 0.9 per cent, or 56 terawatt hours, and in India, 3.3 per cent, or 56 terawatt hours.<\/p>\n Instead, they’re \u201cnow aggressively pursuing a strategy of diversification through bringing renewables into the mix. And those are the sources that are the biggest drivers of change in their power system today,\u201d Fulghum says.<\/p>\n China led the globe in solar, and is responsible for more than half of the world’s growth in both solar capacity and generation last year. China<\/a> also accounted for most of the world’s rise in wind, with 138 terawatt hours added.<\/p>\n India, meanwhile, saw record increases in both solar and wind generation, along with strong hydropower output. In a reversal from fossil fuel generation increases \u2013 which for years, were driven by an economic rebound following the pandemic \u2013 India also saw lower-than-average demand growth.<\/p>\n The US and Europe added 85 terawatt hours and 60 terawatt hours, respectively, of solar last year as fossil fuels saw small increases.<\/p>\n Trump’s attacks on clean energy fall flat<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s administration has placed pressure on industry leaders to boost coal, oil and gas production<\/a> and reduced support for renewables; but in Europe, fossil generation is generally trending down. The analysis suggests that despite efforts attacking clean energy in the US, and war-related challenges, the transition continues to make headway around the world.<\/p>\n