The planet reached an exciting turning point in the first half of 2025, when renewable energy demands outpaced coal-produced power for the first time. Global energy think tank Ember released a report revealing that coal generation fell by 0.6 percent in the first half of 2025, while solar and wind growth reached the point where the two sources became the primary supplier of energy across the globe.
Consistent Renewable Energy Use Around the World
Ember looked at energy use in 88 countries, comprising 93 percent of electricity use across the planet, from January 2025 through June 2025, and the news was encouraging. Wind and solar climbed to 109 percent of energy demands, making it the primary source of energy. This occurred even as energy demand increased by 2.6 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. Solar alone accounted for 83 percent of energy production, with hydro-electricity and bioenergy use falling slightly. Nuclear energy use also increased.
Part of solar’s leap into the lead came from slightly sunnier conditions in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024, but investment in solar technology played a much bigger role and one that will continue to pay off for generations to come.
Growing economies account for a large portion of renewable growth as they continue to make investments in clean infrastructure. China is a major player in energy usage, and it saw an increase of 55 percent in solar use, while reducing its coal consumption. India told a similar story, with an increase of 5.6 percent and a reduction in coal use, though this change is expected to be temporary, to a certain degree.
China, on the other hand, has made investments in clean energy for decades, and they are not only keeping up with an increase in energy demands, but are doing so with renewable power. The country is now the largest producer of solar panels and the biggest consumer of solar power.
Other countries set records in clean energy usage. Australia, Hungary, and Pakistan all created more than 20 percent of the energy from renewable sources and hit new highs in the process.
Renewable Energy = Great News for the Environment
All told, electricity from renewables rose to 34.3 percent in 2025 from 32.7 percent in 2024, while coal’s portion fell to 33.1 percent from 34.2 percent.Solar alone has more than doubled in the past four years, with countries like Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and Spain seeing huge increases in solar generation in just the past few years.
All this brings good news for the environment, as you might imagine. Despite the fact that energy use increased, emissions decreased by 12 metric tons (MtCO2).
In more established economies like the European Union and the United States, solar saw encouraging growth, with a 14 percent increase in the US and a 12 percent increase in the EU. Unfortunately, this growth didn’t entirely cover the increased demand overall, and emissions increased in the US by +33 MtCO2 and the EU by +13 MtCO2 as both turned to coal to help cover the new energy demands.
The United States is facing a dramatic increase in energy requirements, with estimates from the consulting firm ICF suggesting that there will be an increase of 25 percent by 2030 and 78 percent by 2050.
Part of this increase in energy load comes from the rapid growth of data centers, which are primarily being constructed to support new Artificial Intelligence demands. This increase in energy use will both stress current infrastructure and will cause energy costs for users to skyrocket in some areas.
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Lessened Usage in the USA Doesn’t Dampen Global Initiatives
While the government under President Donald Trump has moved away from renewable energy, many states have increased their focus on clean power. Sunlight-rich states like Utah have seen a boom in solar usage, for example.
In the EU, many countries, including Austria, Hungary, Romania and Poland, have made huge investments in solar power in recent years, and in 2025, solar production outpaced fossil fuel use in both Austria and Hungary. All of these countries have relied on gas imported from Russia to meet their energy needs, but their investments in renewable energy are paying off and allowing them to move away from gas as the main source of energy in the area.
That’s not to say that there isn’t more work to do across the globe as we shift to cleaner sources of energy. Coal use reached record consumption in 2024, but as the shift in early 2025 shows, clean energy is rapidly catching up.
With continued investment into batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and other clean energy infrastructure across the globe, this shift from fossil to fuel to clean energy use marks what could be a turning point in our energy usage and shows that renewables are no longer a novelty, Sonia Dunlop, CEO of Global Solar Council, noted in the Ember report. Clean energy can be the major player if we continue to prioritize it as fossil fuels start to fade into the background, she noted.
Featured image by Photo by Rabih Shasha, via Unsplash