Global electricity production increased by around 850TWh in 2025, with solar and wind accounting for nearly all of this growth. The world burned more gas, but this was more than offset by a decline in coal and oil. One cheer overall I think: to reduce CO2 emissions overall fossil fuel use needs to fall not just in the power sector but also in other energy and industrial sectors.

Low-carbon electricity sources grew faster than demand in 2025, pushing fossil fuels into decline

Solar and wind energy have grown quickly in recent years, but global electricity demand has grown faster. So while their share of electricity generation kept rising, it wasn't enough to push fossil fuels into absolute decline.
- Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado in Our World in Data, 5 May 2026. This data comes from Ember’s global electricity review.

Originally posted in Second Nature 062 (May 2026). Category clean power tags solar, wind.
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