Renewables Supplied All New Global Electricity Demand in 2025

Low‑emissions sources covered all new electricity demand in 2025, pushing their share to a record 42.6% of global use.

In 2025, the world added 849 terawatt‑hours of electricity demand, and every extra kilowatt‑hour came from solar, wind, hydro, nuclear or biofuels. Ember, an energy think tank, reached this conclusion by compiling data from national grid operators, the International Energy Agency and its own Global Electricity Review dataset. The methodology measured total annual electricity consumption, subtracted the previous year’s total to isolate demand growth, and then calculated how much of that growth was supplied by low‑emissions technologies.

Low‑emissions energy sources supplied 100% of the increase in global electricity demand in 2025 for the first time. Nicolas Fulghum of Ember said clean power deployment can now meet rising demand and will soon push fossil generation into decline. Low‑emissions sources accounted for 42.6% of global electricity consumption in 2025, a record share. Solar power met about three‑quarters of the 849 TWh of new demand, while wind covered almost the remainder.

The findings signal a structural shift: clean energy is no longer just keeping pace with growth but is beginning to outpace fossil‑fuel additions. Despite this, fossil fuels still supplied the majority of electricity in 2025, and analysts caution that extreme weather or grid constraints could test the resilience of the renewable mix. Continued investment in transmission, storage and flexible capacity will be crucial to sustain the trend.