Global Electricity Trends

In 2022, global electricity generation remained dominated by fossil fuels at 61%, though wind and solar reached a record 12% share. Despite record growth in renewables, global power sector emissions hit an all-time high of 12,431 mtCO2, driven by rising demand in major economies like China and India. The report highlights a gap between current trends and the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario, which requires a rapid phase-out of unabated coal and gas by 2035-2040.

• Fossil fuels continued to dominate global electricity generation in 2022, providing 61% of the total. Coal was the largest contributor at 36% (10,186 TWh), followed by fossil gas at 22% (6,336 TWh) and other fossils at 3% (850 TWh).
• Wind and solar power experienced record growth in 2022, increasing by 312 TWh (+17%) and 245 TWh (+24%) respectively, to reach a combined 12% share of global electricity generation.
• Nuclear generation saw a historic decline of 4.7% (-129 TWh) in 2022, primarily due to maintenance issues in France and plant closures in Germany and Belgium, as well as planned maintenance in Japan.
• Global electricity demand reached a record high of 28,510 TWh in 2022, an increase of 694 TWh (+2.5%) over 2021. China, the US, and India drove the majority of this growth, accounting for 54%, 21%, and 18% of the global demand increase, respectively.
• Power sector emissions reached a new all-time high of 12,431 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022, a 1.3% increase from the previous year. The top 10 absolute emitters—China, US, India, EU, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Iran—are responsible for 80% of these emissions.
• To align with the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario for a 1.5C pathway, unabated coal plants must be phased out by 2035 in mature economies and 2040 in developing ones, while unabated gas must be phased out by 2040. Renewables are projected to provide nearly 90% of electricity by 2050.

APA

Ember (2023). Global Electricity Trends. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-2/

Chicago

Ember. Global Electricity Trends. 2023. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Global Electricity Trends |date=12 April 2023 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-2/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2023global, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Global Electricity Trends}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-2/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }