For the first time in history, global growth in electricity demand was met entirely by solar and wind power. This is according to a new report from Ember, the energy think tank.
The data marks a remarkable milestone in the global clean energy transition, though the progress, experts warn, remains uneven across regions.
Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, a senior analyst at renowned energy consulting firm, Ember, described the moment as “the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with demand growth.” Solar power, in particular, carried most of the weight, accounting for 83% of the total increase in global electricity demand. It has now been the largest source of new electricity for three consecutive years.
What’s striking is how much of this solar boom is happening in developing countries. Around 58% of solar generation now comes from lower-income nations, many of which have experienced explosive growth in installation thanks to unprecedented drops in cost.
Since 1975, solar prices have fallen by 99.9%, transforming it from a niche technology into one of the most affordable sources of power on Earth. In countries where grid electricity is costly or unreliable, solar adoption can soar within a single year.
China remains the undisputed leader of this clean energy revolution, adding more wind and solar capacity in 2024 than the rest of the world combined.
This surge allowed the country to reduce fossil fuel generation by 2% while still meeting its rising electricity needs. India, too, added large amounts of renewable capacity, curbing its dependence on coal and gas.
Yet, the picture is far less rosy in developed economies. In the United States, electricity demand grew faster than renewable output, forcing a renewed reliance on fossil fuels. Europe faced its own setbacks as weak wind and hydropower conditions drove up coal and gas generation, a setback to its decarbonization ambitions.
Coal, meanwhile, remains the world’s single largest source of electricity, a position it has held for more than half a century, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite clean energy’s impressive rise, the global system is still deeply anchored to carbon-heavy fuels.
Meanwhile, wind energy’s progress has also slowed compared to solar. While solar panel prices have plummeted, the cost of wind turbines has fallen by only a third over the last decade. Rising interest rates have compounded the challenge, driving up financing costs and making new wind projects more expensive to launch. Moreover, the intermittency of wind — with weeks-long lulls during winter — continues to pose challenges for grid reliability, demanding costly backup systems.
Still, one country continues to dominate the clean technology landscape: China. The nation’s clean tech exports reached a record $20 billion in August 2025, fueled by a 26% rise in electric vehicle sales and a 23% increase in battery exports. Together, its EVs and batteries are now worth more than double its solar panel exports, cementing China’s position at the center of the global green economy.
Even as the world’s power systems evolve, Ember’s findings make one thing clear: the energy transition is no longer theoretical. Clean power is growing fast enough to match new demand — but whether it can fully displace fossil fuels in time remains the defining question of the decade.
