The year sunlight went global: how the Paris Agreement brought solar power to the world

This report by Ember examines the global expansion of solar power in the decade following the 2015 Paris Agreement, focusing on the leadership of emerging economies, specifically Brazil, China, and India. It details how national targets, international finance, and industrial policies accelerated solar adoption, shifting the center of solar generation from OECD nations to emerging markets.

• Solar power has become the fastest-growing electricity source in history, increasing its share of global generation from 1% in 2015 to 6.9% in 2024, and further to 8.8% in the first half of 2025. Global solar capacity reached 2.2 TW in 2025, achieving a milestone ten years earlier than predictions made in 2016.
• Leadership in solar generation has shifted from mature economies to emerging markets. In 2015, OECD members represented nine of the top ten countries for solar capacity and 59% of new worldwide capacity; by 2024, the OECD share of new additions dropped to 26%, with two-thirds of new capacity deployed in emerging markets.
• Brazil, China, and India have been pivotal to global growth, accounting for 60% of all new solar capacity (approximately 1 TW) since 2015. In the first three quarters of 2025, solar electricity shares reached 12% in Brazil, 11% in China, and nearly 9% in India.
• China has established global dominance in solar manufacturing and generation, hosting 80-90% of global solar manufacturing. Its solar generation grew 21-fold from 0.7% in 2015 to 8.3% in 2024, and it met its 2030 target of 1,200 GW of wind and solar capacity by 2024.
• India and France launched the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at COP21 to mobilize $1 trillion in solar funding by 2030. Domestically, India's solar capacity grew by an average of 40% per year following the Paris Summit, with a near twentyfold increase between 2015 and 2024.
• Brazil experienced rapid solar expansion, with capacity growing by an average of 70% per year since the Paris Summit. Solar generation in Brazil overtook nuclear in 2021, coal and gas in 2022, and bioenergy in 2023, reaching 9.6% of electricity generation in 2024.

APA

Miranda, R., & Black, R. (2025). The year sunlight went global: how the Paris Agreement brought solar power to the world. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/The-year-sunlight-went-global-how-the-Paris-Agreement-brought-solar-power-to-the-world.pdf

Chicago

Miranda, Raul, and Richard Black. The year sunlight went global: how the Paris Agreement brought solar power to the world. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/The-year-sunlight-went-global-how-the-Paris-Agreement-brought-solar-power-to-the-world.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Miranda |first1=Raul |last2=Black |first2=Richard |title=The year sunlight went global: how the Paris Agreement brought solar power to the world |publisher=Ember |date=14 November 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/The-year-sunlight-went-global-how-the-Paris-Agreement-brought-solar-power-to-the-world.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{miranda2025year, author = {Miranda, Raul and Black, Richard}, title = {{The year sunlight went global: how the Paris Agreement brought solar power to the world}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/11/The-year-sunlight-went-global-how-the-Paris-Agreement-brought-solar-power-to-the-world.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }