For the first time in a century, renewables out-generated coal
In 2025 the world crossed a line that had held since the age of steam: cleaner sources produced more of our electricity than coal did.
Electricity systems change slowly, which is what makes 2025 worth marking. According to Ember's global review, renewables generated 33.8 percent of the world's electricity last year, about 10,730 terawatt hours, edging past coal at 33.0 percent. It is the first time renewable sources have out-generated coal since roughly 1919, back when the grid was small and mostly hydropower.
How we know
The figure comes from Ember's Global Electricity Review, which draws on data from 215 countries, and it is independently echoed by the International Energy Agency. The engine of the shift is solar. Solar generation grew by nearly a third in a single year, adding 636 terawatt hours, and together solar and wind met 99 percent of the growth in global electricity demand.
Why it matters
For the first time, almost all of the new power the world needed in a year came from clean sources rather than from burning more fossil fuel. The direction of the entire power system has tipped, and that direction is what shapes emissions for decades.
Renewables here is a basket that includes long established hydropower. Coal is still the single largest individual source of electricity, and the International Energy Agency expects it to stay that way for a few more years. The fossil fuel dip was small, about 0.2 percent, and partly down to favourable weather, and power sector emissions plateaued rather than fell. This is a threshold crossed, not a race won.
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