Global Electricity Review 2025

In 2024, clean power surpassed 40% of global electricity generation for the first time since the 1940s, driven by record solar growth. Despite this, global power sector emissions reached an all-time high of 14.6 billion tonnes of CO2 because heatwaves drove a 1.4% increase in fossil generation to meet cooling demand. Solar generation doubled over the last three years, reaching 2,131 TWh, while emerging drivers like AI data centres, EVs, and heat pumps structurally increased demand growth. China and India are increasingly decoupling their electricity demand growth from fossil fuel expansion, with China's clean generation meeting 81% of its demand increase in 2024.

• Low-carbon power sources, including renewables and nuclear, accounted for 40.9% of global electricity generation in 2024, the first time this threshold has been crossed since the 1940s.
• Solar power is the primary driver of the energy transition, with generation doubling every three years to reach 2,131 TWh in 2024. It was the largest source of new electricity globally for the third consecutive year, adding 474 TWh.
• Global power sector emissions rose by 1.6% to a record 14.6 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2024. This increase was primarily driven by a 1.4% rise in fossil generation (+245 TWh) caused by heatwaves increasing cooling demand.
• Global electricity demand grew by 4.0% (+1,172 TWh) in 2024, crossing 30,000 TWh for the first time. Temperature-related effects added 208 TWh to this demand, while emerging technologies like EVs, data centres, and heat pumps contributed 0.7% (+195 TWh).
• China and India are decoupling electricity demand growth from fossil fuel growth. In 2024, clean generation met 81% of China's demand increase. India's solar capacity additions in 2024 were more than double those of 2023.
• Battery storage capacity is expanding rapidly as costs fall; the average price of lithium-ion battery packs dropped 20% in 2024 to $115 USD/kWh. 69 GW of capacity was installed in 2024.
• In the United States, wind and solar together generated more electricity than coal for the first time in 2024, with coal's share falling to under 15%. However, US gas generation rose by 3.3% (+59 TWh), accounting for 57% of the global increase in gas generation.
• The European Union's fossil generation is at its lowest level in over 40 years (793 TWh), with solar power surpassing coal generation for the first time in 2024.
• Brazil has become the world's fifth-largest solar generator, overtaking Germany. It generated 90% of its electricity from clean sources in 2024, the highest share of any G20 country.

APA

Graham, E., Fulghum, N., & Altieri, K. (2025). Global Electricity Review 2025. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/04/Report-Global-Electricity-Review-2025.pdf

Chicago

Graham, Euan, Nicolas Fulghum, and Katye Altieri. Global Electricity Review 2025. Ember, 2025. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/04/Report-Global-Electricity-Review-2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Graham |first1=Euan |last2=Fulghum |first2=Nicolas |last3=Altieri |first3=Katye |title=Global Electricity Review 2025 |publisher=Ember |date=8 April 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/04/Report-Global-Electricity-Review-2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{graham2025global, author = {Graham, Euan and Fulghum, Nicolas and Altieri, Katye}, title = {{Global Electricity Review 2025}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/04/Report-Global-Electricity-Review-2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }