Countries continue to turn to renewables for national security despite Trump's attacks on wind and solar.
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.
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Record growth in solar, especially in China and India, was a driving factor.
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).
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.
Overall, the share of renewables – including solar, wind, hydropower and other clean energies – 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.
It’s promising news for a world embattled by climate change that’s 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 exacerbated by the US war in Iran.
In another historical first, coal power saw its share fall below one-third of global generation, dropping 0.6 per cent to 63 terawatt hours.
“We’re coming from a period over the last few decades where new electricity demand growth meant growth in fossil generation,” says Nicolas Fulghum, Ember senior data analyst and lead author of the report. “We’re now moving into a world where that’s no longer the case.
“Milestones like renewables overtaking coal mark an occasion, but they don’t tell us everything about the story in the power sector,” Fulghum adds. “The 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.”
Solar and wind gain on nuclear, fossil fuels fall
Solar, which grew 30 per cent in 2025, alone met three-quarters of last year's net rise in electricity demand – and combined with wind power generation, met 99 per cent of it.
Though solar overtook wind power globally for the first time last year, and gained on nuclear power, Ember expects the two to overtake nuclear this year.
Meanwhile, fossil fuel generation essentially halted, and fell about 0.2 per cent in 2025, or 38 terawatt hours – making last year one of only a handful of years without a rise this century.
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 added from midday to other hours of the day.
That’s an important part of using solar generation beyond the daytime, when it can be collected.
“Despite 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’re using,” Fulghum says. "And that is a stark departure from the last few decades.”
China and India 'aggressively pursue' energy diversification
Last year also marked the first time this century that both China and India – historically major contributors of fossil power – 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.
Instead, they're “now 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,” Fulghum says.
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 also accounted for most of the world's rise in wind, with 138 terawatt hours added.
India, meanwhile, saw record increases in both solar and wind generation, along with strong hydropower output. In a reversal from fossil fuel generation increases – which for years, were driven by an economic rebound following the pandemic – India also saw lower-than-average demand growth.
The US and Europe added 85 terawatt hours and 60 terawatt hours, respectively, of solar last year as fossil fuels saw small increases.
Trump's attacks on clean energy fall flat
President Donald Trump's administration has placed pressure on industry leaders to boost coal, oil and gas production 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.
“As we’re seeing the cost of oil be incredibly volatile right now because of the war, I think more and more people are looking to that national security argument as a reason to think about how we electrify more and and how we’re able to take advantage of additional solar and wind, which does not rely on other countries,” says Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia University Climate School, who was not involved in the study.
“We’ve really crossed this important threshold that clean energy now can meet rising demand economically and at the same time really help address national security concerns," she adds. "The next challenge is really turning that into a steady decline of fossil fuel use as well. So it’s a great step in the right direction.”
