The Energy Transition in 2025: What to Watch For

The energy transition accelerated in 2024, driven by record uptake in solar, wind, and electric vehicles as costs for solar modules and batteries fell significantly. While renewables are poised to overtake coal as the leading power source in 2025 and many nations have set net-zero goals, progress in energy efficiency and methane reduction remains off track. The document argues that achieving 2030 targets requires shifting fossil fuel subsidies toward clean energy investments, particularly in emerging economies.

• Cleantech costs declined sharply in 2024, with solar module prices dropping 35 percent to under 9 cents/kWh and EV battery prices falling below $100/kWh. This has led to cost-of-ownership parity for EVs in the United States and purchase price parity in China, with similar milestones expected in Europe (around 2025), the United States (2026), and India (2027).
• Renewable energy deployment reached record levels in 2024, including approximately 600 GW of solar and 125 GW of wind, with grid storage installations nearly doubling to about 170 GWh. Consequently, renewables are expected to surpass coal as the primary power source in 2025, with investment in renewables now exceeding fossil electricity investment by a ratio of 10 to 1.
• While global cleantech adoption is widening—particularly in the Global South where solar and wind are scaling twice as fast as in the Global North—critical areas like energy efficiency and methane reduction are lagging. The rate of primary energy intensity improvement fell from approximately 2 percent in 2022 to 1 percent in 2023, and methane pollution levels are increasing twice as fast as predicted.
• National climate commitments are expanding, with all G20 nations now having net-zero goals. Specific actions include Indonesia's plan to switch fully to renewables within 15 years and Ethiopia's ban on non-electric car imports. However, a significant funding gap remains; in 2023, governments spent 10 times more on fossil fuel subsidies than on clean energy support.

APA

RMI (2025). The Energy Transition in 2025: What to Watch For. https://rmi.org/resources/the-energy-transition-in-2025-what-to-watch-for/

Chicago

RMI. The Energy Transition in 2025: What to Watch For. 2025. https://rmi.org/resources/the-energy-transition-in-2025-what-to-watch-for/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=The Energy Transition in 2025: What to Watch For |date=8 January 2025 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-energy-transition-in-2025-what-to-watch-for/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2025energy, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{The Energy Transition in 2025: What to Watch For}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-energy-transition-in-2025-what-to-watch-for/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }