According to new data from the global energy think tank Ember, renewable energy surpassed coal as the world's leading source of electricity in the first half of 2025 - a historic milestone. While electricity demand is growing globally, the surge in solar and wind power generation was so strong that it met 100% of the additional demand, even contributing to a slight decline in coal and gas usage.
However, Ember notes that this headline-grabbing shift masks a more complex global picture. Developing nations, particularly China, have spearheaded the clean energy charge, but wealthier countries like the US and EU have become increasingly reliant on planet-warming fossil fuels for their electricity needs. This divergence is likely to intensify, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts renewables will see much slower growth in the US due to the policies of the previous administration.
Coal, a major contributor to global warming, remained the world's largest individual energy source in 2024, a position it has held for over half a century, according to the IEA. While China continues to add coal-fired power plants, it also leads the world in clean energy expansion, installing more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined. This allowed China's renewable generation to outpace rising electricity demand and reduce its fossil fuel-based generation by 2%.
India, too, experienced slower electricity demand growth and significant new solar and wind installations, leading to a decline in coal and gas usage. In contrast, developed nations like the US and EU saw the opposite trend, with electricity demand growing faster than clean energy output, increasing their reliance on fossil fuels. In the EU, months of weak wind and hydropower performance further contributed to a rise in coal and gas generation.
The IEA has halved its forecast for renewable energy growth in the US this decade, cutting its prediction for new renewable capacity from 500GW to 250GW by 2030. This thorough assessment underscores the dramatically different approaches taken by the US and China, as the former focuses on promoting its oil and gas exports while the latter's clean tech exports surge.
Despite these regional disparities, Ember calls this moment a "crucial turning point," marking the beginning of a shift where clean power is keeping pace with growing electricity demand. Solar power has been the largest source of new electricity globally for three consecutive years, meeting 83% of the increase in demand. The plummeting cost of solar - a 99.9% drop since 1975 - has enabled rapid growth, especially in lower-income countries where grid electricity is expensive and unreliable.
Pakistan, for example, imported solar panels capable of generating 17 gigawatts (GW) in 2024, double the previous year and equivalent to roughly a third of the country's current electricity capacity. Africa is also experiencing a solar boom, with panel imports up 60% year-on-year, led by coal-heavy South Africa and Nigeria, which overtook Egypt to become the continent's second-largest solar market with 1.7GW of capacity.
However, the rapid growth of solar has also created unexpected challenges in some countries. In Afghanistan, widespread use of solar-powered water pumps is lowering the water table, threatening long-term access to groundwater in some regions that could run dry within 5-10 years, endangering millions of livelihoods.
Adair Turner, chair of the UK's Energy Transitions Commission, notes that countries in the global "sun belt" and "wind belt" face very different energy challenges. Sun belt nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America can significantly reduce energy costs by adopting solar-based systems, while wind belt countries like the UK face tougher obstacles, as wind turbine costs have not fallen as dramatically as solar and balancing supply is more challenging.
Regardless of these regional differences, China's dominance in clean tech industries remains unrivaled. In August 2025, its clean tech exports hit a record $20 billion, driven by surging sales of electric vehicles (up 26%) and batteries (up 23%) - now worth more than twice the value of its solar panel exports.
