Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time
By Jillian Ambrose
The world’s wind and solar farms have generated more electricity than coal plants for the first time this year, marking a turning point for the global power system, according to research.
A report by the climate thinktank Ember found that in the first six months of 2025, renewable energy outpaced the world’s growing appetite for electricity, leading to a small decline in coal and gas use.
The world generated almost a third more solar power in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2024, meeting 83% of the global increase in electricity demand. Wind power grew by just over 7%, allowing renewables to displace fossil fuels for the first time.
The milestone represents “a crucial turning point”, according to Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, a senior electricity analyst at Ember and the author of the report.
She said: “Solar and wind are now growing fast enough to meet the world’s growing appetite for electricity. This marks the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth.”
China and India were largely responsible for the surge in renewables, according to the Ember report, in contrast with the US and Europe, which relied more heavily on fossil fuels.
A separate report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that global renewables could more than double by the end of the decade, with 80% of new clean energy capacity expected to come from solar power.
Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said: “The growth in global renewable capacity in the coming years will be dominated by solar PV – but with wind, hydropower, bioenergy and geothermal all contributing, too.”
The IEA said China would remain the world’s biggest growth market for renewables, with India emerging as the second largest over the rest of the decade.
“In addition to growth in established markets, solar is set to surge in economies such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and several south-east Asian countries,” Birol added.
China added more renewable energy generation than the rest of the world combined, leading to a 2% drop in its use of fossil fuels in the first half of the year compared with the same months in 2024, Ember found.
Over the same period India grew its renewable energy by more than three times its electricity demand – which was significantly weaker this year – causing its coal and gas use to fall by 3.1% and 34% respectively.
By contrast, demand for electricity in the US outpaced its growing renewables sector, leading to a 17% increase in coal generation in the first half of the year.
In the EU, demand showed only modest growth compared with the first half of last year, but a weather-related slump in wind and hydro power meant even fast-rising solar power could not prevent gas and coal generation increasing by 14% and 1.1% respectively.