Solar power drives a renewables inflection point
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Global electricity generation from renewables edged past coal in 2025, per a new analysis by Ember, a clean energy think tank.
Why it matters: The inflection point with renewables — mostly hydro, solar, wind and bioenergy — helped to keep CO2 emissions from power essentially flat even as consumption rose, it found.
State of play: A separate report Monday from the International Energy Agency reached a similar conclusion.
- It showed coal, long the world's largest power source, barely hanging onto the title last year.
- Coal and renewables both had about a 34% share, with the former an inch ahead, IEA found.
Zoom out: Both reports show solar's growth did lots of heavy lifting in 2025, even though it remains a small share of total global generation (8.7% last year by Ember's tally).
- It "cemented its role as the dominant driver of change," meeting three-fourths of last year's demand rise, Ember finds.
- "Solar's rise was 18 times larger than that of gas," per Ember.
- Coal-fired generation rose very slightly last year, IEA notes, though Ember's analysis found a slight dip.
What we're watching: Keep an eye on coal usage this year and beyond.
- As we've been writing about, tighter gas supplies and higher prices could be giving coal a boost, especially in Asia.
- But more countries are looking to expand renewables, too.
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Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show solar's growth was in 2025 (not 2026).
