Global renewable energy production surpassed coal for the first time
Kyiv • UNN
For the first time globally, wind and solar power plants generated more electricity than coal-fired ones. In the first six months of 2025, renewable energy outpaced growing electricity demand, leading to a slight decrease in coal and gas consumption.
Wind and solar power plants produced more electricity than coal-fired ones for the first time in the world this year, marking a turning point for the global energy system, according to a study, writes UNN with reference to The Guardian.
Details
A report by the climate think tank Ember states that in the first six months of 2025, renewable energy outpaced the growing global demand for electricity, leading to a slight decrease in coal and gas consumption.
In the first half of the year, the world produced almost a third more solar energy compared to the same period in 2024, covering 83% of the increase in global electricity demand. Wind power growth was just over 7%, allowing renewables to replace fossil fuels for the first time.
This milestone is an "important turning point," according to Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, Ember's senior electricity analyst and author of the report.
She said: "Solar and wind power are now growing fast enough to meet the world's growing demand for electricity. This marks the beginning of a clean energy transition that is keeping pace with demand growth."
According to the Ember report, China and India are largely responsible for the growth of renewable energy, unlike the US and Europe, which have relied more heavily on fossil fuels.
A separate report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) emphasizes that global renewable energy capacity could more than double by the end of the decade, with 80% of new clean energy capacity expected to come from solar energy.
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the IEA, stated: "In the coming years, the growth of global renewable energy capacity will be driven by solar energy, but wind, hydropower, bioenergy, and geothermal energy will also be involved."
The IEA stated that China will remain the world's largest renewable energy market in terms of growth rates, and India will take second place by the end of the decade.
"In addition to growth in developed markets, a sharp increase in solar energy is expected in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and a number of Southeast Asian countries," Birol added.
China increased renewable energy production more than the rest of the world combined, leading to a 2% decrease in fossil fuel consumption in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2024, Ember reports.
During the same period, India more than tripled its renewable energy production compared to the growth in electricity demand, which was significantly lower this year, resulting in a 3.1% and 34% reduction in coal and gas consumption, respectively.
In contrast, electricity demand in the US outpaced the growth of the renewable energy sector, leading to a 17% increase in coal production in the first half of the year.
In the EU, demand showed only modest growth compared to the first half of last year, but a weather-related decline in wind and hydropower meant that even rapidly growing solar energy could not prevent a 14% and 1.1% increase in gas and coal production, respectively.