Renewables Surpass Coal as World’s Top Electricity Source in 2025, Ember Reports

Renewable energy has overtaken coal to become the world’s largest source of electricity in 2025, according to thinktank Ember. The growth of solar and wind meant that, for the first time since 1919, the share of coal power was lower than that of renewables.

Fossil-fuel generation fell by 0.2% in 2025, Ember’s latest annual review states. Wind and solar alone met 99% of the growth in global electricity demand last year. While fossil-fuel generation has occasionally declined in past years, Ember notes this is the first time the drop was driven by a structural shift toward clean power—not economic crises or temporary events.

Record Solar Growth Drives Historic Shift

Record solar generation was key to pushing fossil fuels into reverse, increasing by 30% year-on-year. Solar alone met 75% of global electricity demand growth in 2025. Other findings include:

• Solar power generation grew by a record 636 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2025. This exceeded the electricity that could be generated from all liquid natural gas (LNG) exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
• Wind generation rose by 205TWh (8.2%), the second-largest increase after solar.
• Coal power fell to less than a third of global electricity generation for the first time in history.
• The global electric vehicle (EV) fleet grew, displacing 1.8 million barrels per day (mbpd) of oil demand in 2025. New EVs alone accounted for 0.5mbpd of this reduction.

Solar and Wind Dominate Global Electricity Growth

In 2025, both solar and wind power continued their rapid expansion, Ember reports. Solar saw a record increase, with global generation growing by 636TWh—double the total annual electricity demand of the UK. This was 33% higher than the previous solar record growth of 479TWh, set in 2024.

Global solar growth in 2025 alone exceeded the electricity that could be generated from all LNG exports through the Strait of Hormuz that year, Ember notes. This amounted to 81 million tonnes (Mt) or around 550TWh of gas-fired electricity.

Solar in 2025 represented the largest annual increase of any individual electricity source ever recorded, with the exception of the rebound in coal generation after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 (719TWh). The continued growth reflects structural capacity expansion rather than demand fluctuations.

Moreover, 2025 was the fourth consecutive year that solar recorded the largest absolute growth of any electricity source. Solar capacity grew by a record 647 gigawatts (GW) in 2025, suggesting the technology will continue dominating generation growth in the coming years, Ember says.

Wind and Nuclear Show Modest Gains

Wind generation rose by 205TWh (8.2%) in 2025, matching the rate seen in 2024 but slightly below the record absolute increase of 265TWh in 2021.

Nuclear output rose moderately by 35TWh (1.3%), reaching an all-time high of 2,812TWh. This growth was driven by new reactors coming online in China (37TWh), as well as increased output in France (12TWh) and Japan (9TWh).