- Renewable energy now accounts for more of the world’s electricity than coal
- They represent 33.8% of electricity generation compared to 33% for coal
- Solar energy is a key driver here as it accounted for 75% of the growth in global electricity demand
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Renewable energy became the most important source of electricity for the world during 2025, finally overtaking coal in this regard, according to a new study.
A report by CarbonBrief contained the revelation from a think tank called Ember. Based on Ember’s calculations in its latest Global Electricity Review, coal-fired electricity generation fell 0.2% last year to 33%, while renewables maintained a steady upward trajectory to overtake coal, reaching 33.8%.
Wind and solar accounted for 99% of the growth in electricity demand last year (solar represented the majority of that – 75% of it, in fact). The International Energy Agency said separately in its Global Energy Review 2026 report that “the absolute increase in solar generation in 2025 is the largest ever observed for any source”.
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In the past, we have seen the share of fossil fuels fall year-on-year, but this was driven by economic crises or the pandemic, whereas this is the first time that a move to clean power has caused coal consumption to fall.
Apparently, record solar generation, up 30% year-on-year, was the key factor driving renewables to take the top spot from coal. Note that this is coal power alone, which is compared to renewables for electricity generation (as opposed to including other fossil fuels such as gas, which are considered separately).
Analysis: EV and solar highlights – and the looming threat on the horizon
Obviously, this is good news, and Ember’s report makes an interesting point that electric vehicles (EVs) are a “structural driver of electricity demand growth”, accounting for about 8% of the increase in global electricity demand last year.
Electric vehicles grew by a total of 66TWh last year, compared to 36TWh in 2024, so that’s a big jump, with EV sales now accounting for over 25% of the global car market, the think tank notes.
With fuel prices on the rise, I wouldn’t bet against seeing bigger jumps, and a recent report in the UK indicated that electric cars saw year-on-year sales growth of 24.2% in March (with diesel and petrol cars down 6.1% and 11.4% respectively).
Aside from EVs, solar is singled out as the key driver of renewable energy by Ember: “The accelerating deployment of solar is increasingly happening alongside the roll-out of battery storage, enabling the next paradigm shift – from daytime solar to anytime solar.”
As battery costs have fallen “sharply” over the past two years – by 20% in 2024 and 45% last year, we’re told – deployments were up 46% and “the world installed enough battery capacity to move 14% of new solar generation in 2025 from midday to other hours of the day.”
The advances being made in solar power apply not only to traditional arrays with large panels, but increasingly to gadgets that harness the energy of the sun. Like this solar-powered Windows 11 laptop or a smart lock with a mini-solar panel that was shown off a few months back at CES 2026. Solar-powered home security cameras are also becoming much more common, and they offer important benefits in terms of eliminating wires.
True, very small increases in solar power consumption, but they all add up on top of the progress that is clearly happening in this arena.
The potential blot on the landscape amid this positive renewable energy news is the threat of AI-driven data center construction – and the power demands therein – and how they will be met. This is a danger that is being taken seriously, and in the US a recent development is that Maine has even passed new laws effectively banning the construction of sprawling data centers in certain areas.
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