Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition

The Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition provides data on the energy transition across BRICS nations, highlighting the dominant role of China in renewable electricity generation and capacity, while noting varying levels of progress in solar and wind adoption across the bloc.

• BRICS nations generated 15,909 terrawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2024, which represents more than half of the global total and is more than double the combined generation of the US (4387 TWh) and EU (2744 TWh).
• China dominates the BRICS renewable energy landscape, producing nearly 70% of the bloc's total renewable electricity in 2024. China's renewable generation of 3388 TWh exceeds the combined totals of the US (1057 TWh) and EU (1302 TWh).
• Renewable electricity generation in the BRICS has shifted away from hydropower. Hydropower's share of total renewable generation fell from nearly 82% in 2015 to 45% in 2023. Conversely, solar PV generation grew from 49 TWh in 2015 to 792 TWh in 2023, and wind generation grew from 245 TWh to 1089 TWh over the same period.
• Solar capacity growth has been most significant in China, where it increased over 1300% from 43 GW in 2015 to 610 GW in 2023. India's solar capacity grew from 18 GW in 2015 to nearly 73 GW in 2023, and Brazil's grew from 0.05 GW in 2015 to approximately 38 GW.
• Employment in renewable energy (RE) is concentrated in China, where total RE jobs exceed those of all other BRICS countries combined. In China, solar PV jobs account for over 60% of total RE employment, which is higher than the global average of 40%. Brazil leads the BRICS in RE jobs as a proportion of its population, attributed to its labor-intensive hydropower sector.

APA

Team, Z. (2025). Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewables-bulletin-brics-edition/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2025. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewables-bulletin-brics-edition/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=1 July 2025 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewables-bulletin-brics-edition/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2025renewables, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{Renewables Bulletin: BRICS Edition}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewables-bulletin-brics-edition/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }