In 2025, renewables produced more of the global electricity mix than coal across a full year, according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review, released on April 21, 2026 C.E. Renewables supplied 33.8% of the world’s power, and coal supplied 33.0%. Coal is still the largest single source, because renewables count wind, solar, hydro, and others together.
At a glance
- Milestone: Renewables generated 10,730 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025. Coal generated 10,476 TWh.
- Coal: Coal output fell 0.6%, its first drop since 2020. Its share fell below one-third for the first time.
- Catch: Total fossil power fell only 0.2%, and gas grew. Power-sector emissions were roughly flat.
How renewables passed coal
Clean power grew by 887 TWh in 2025. Global demand grew by 849 TWh. That meant clean sources covered all of the new demand, the Associated Press reported. Ember called it the first time renewables have passed coal in the modern power system.
Solar did most of the work. It grew 30% to 2,778 TWh, a record gain. Solar alone met 75% of the growth in demand, and solar and wind together met 99%.
Wind grew 8.2% to 2,715 TWh, so solar passed wind for the first time, AP reported. Ember also found that battery prices fell 45%. Added batteries could shift about 14% of new solar output to other hours of the day, Ember estimated.
Where the global electricity mix shifted
China’s fossil generation fell 56 TWh, or 0.9%, according to Ember’s country data. It was the first year since 2015 that China’s fossil power did not rise. Solar grew 40% there.
India’s fossil generation fell 52 TWh, or 3.3%. Solar grew 37% and wind grew 28%. Ember said 2025 was the first year this century that fossil power fell in both countries.
This was not the first sign of the shift. In October 2025, E&E News reported that renewables had beaten coal over the first half of 2025. The full-year result confirms it.
What the milestone does not show
The drop in fossil power was small. It was 38 TWh, or 0.2%, and it was the first fall since 2020. Power-sector emissions fell by about 0.04%, which is roughly flat.
Coal still leads in Asia. It supplies 52% of power there, against 32% from renewables, Ember reported. Coal also supplies 54% of China’s power.
Other big economies went the other way. U.S. coal generation rose 13%, and the U.S. fossil total rose 0.9%. In the European Union, fossil power rose 2.2% as hydropower fell 12% and gas grew 8%.
Some of the gains may not repeat. Ember said China’s solar surge was partly a rush before new pay rules took effect in June 2025. India’s demand grew more slowly because of mild weather.
The data have limits too. Ember had full 2025 data for 91 countries, which make up 93% of global demand. Some figures, such as battery deployment, are estimates.
Ember said the transition “remains uneven and incomplete.”
What comes next
Ember expects solar and wind to overtake nuclear in 2026. It also expects clean power growth to hold fossil generation flat before it begins to fall.
Ember’s report cites two outside scenarios for how fast the decline could come. Under one International Energy Agency scenario, fossil generation falls about 10% below its 2025 level by 2035. BloombergNEF’s scenario projects a fall of around 20%.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Ember and AP
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables overtake coal as the world’s top source of electricity for the first time
- Solar’s 2025 growth is the largest ever recorded for any energy source
- The Good News for Humankind archive on clean energy
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