Renewables outpace coal for electricity generation for first time : NPR

For the first time, renewable energy has overtaken coal as the world's leading source of electricity, a new report says, signaling a shift in global dependence on environmentally harmful fossil fuels.

Renewables accounted for 34.3% of all global electricity produced in the first half of 2025, while coal's share fell to 33.1%, the energy think tank said. Amber found. Renewable energy sources include sources such as solar, wind and hydropower, as opposed to fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

Populous developing countries such as China and India are leading the expansion of renewable energy, according to Ember. Meanwhile, during this period, Western societies, including the European Union and the United States, partially met their increased demand for electricity through the use of fossil fuels.

However, global coal output fell 0.6% in the first half compared with the same period a year earlier.

“I think most countries want to expand their use of clean electricity, but some are more strategic and seizing the opportunity than others,” said Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, senior energy analyst at Ember.

Viatros-Motika noted that China has been particularly wise in reducing its dependence on fossil fuels. She noted that such a shift gives countries more autonomy as they can reduce their dependence on energy imports from other countries.

“There has been more investment in infrastructure, which drives clean growth. [in emerging economies] than in many advanced economies,” she said. “It may be that some countries are missing out on opportunities, and perhaps they don't realize it, but it is what it is.”

Countries including Hungary, Pakistan and Australia have set solar energy production records, producing 20% ​​or more of their electricity from solar power.

The report said global carbon dioxide emissions fell slightly in the first half of the year as solar and wind power “outpaced demand growth and led to a slight decline in fossil fuel use.”

China has become the largest driver of the transition to renewable energy, accounting for 55% of global solar generation growth. The US share, by contrast, was only 14%. Renewable energy may slow as Trump administration moves to sharply reduce the development of clean energy.

While the world, including the United States, is making significant strides toward cleaner energy, increased demand is leaving renewables struggling to meet consumer needs, said Daniel Cohen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University.

technology race integrate artificial intelligence V daily life partly to blame.

“This was truly a watershed moment for the United States, as U.S. electricity demand had been stagnant for decades, and with the growth of data centers, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrencies, as well as the growth of other industries, air conditioning, etc., we are starting to see electricity demand growing at 3% per year rather than flat or 1%.” said Cohen.

Cohen said most new power plants in the U.S. and abroad use wind, solar and batteries, but those plants are now being tested.

“The question is whether these wind and solar plants that we're adding can keep up with the growth in demand, because if wind and solar don't grow fast enough, that means we're going to have to continue to run the gas and coal plants that we already have a little harder than before,” he said.

While it is ultimately cheaper and cleaner to rely on wind and solar power once the plants are online, Cohen said financing renewable energy infrastructure remains a hurdle.

China and other countries were able to succeed because they anticipated the growing desire for renewable energy and invested heavily in these alternatives.

“China took away technologies that were originally developed in the United States back in Bell Laboratories in the 1950s and figured out how to scale them up and relentlessly make them cheaper and cheaper year after year and improve their performance a little each time to the point where the cost of solar panels has dropped by over 90% and the cheapest solar panels in the world are made in China,” Kohan said.

Regarding the sustainability of human energy consumption, Cohen said, the world is on the cusp of significant advances in protecting the environment from fossil fuel use.

“Wind and solar are finally growing so fast that they are not only offsetting some of the demand growth, but are actually offsetting more than 100% of the demand growth,” he said.

“This is a tipping point where we can start to see a decline in fossil fuel use,” Cohen said.