For the first time in history, the growth of clean energy has outpaced the growth of global electricity demand. That's the headline finding from the Global Electricity Review 2026, released this week by energy think tank Ember, and it marks what analysts are calling a genuine tipping point for the world's power system.
According to the report, solar and wind added more generation in 2025 than the entire increase in global electricity consumption that year. Translation: every new kilowatt-hour the world used last year was met — and then some — by clean power. Fossil-fuel generation globally rose only slightly, and in many regions it actually fell.
"Clean power generation is keeping pace with the global rise in demand, a critical threshold we have long been waiting for," said Phil MacDonald, Ember's managing director. "The era where adding more electricity meant adding more emissions is ending."
Solar was the single biggest driver. Global solar generation grew by a record 29 percent in 2025, adding more than 470 terawatt-hours — roughly equivalent to the annual electricity use of France. Wind rose another 8 percent. Together, the two sources generated enough power to displace what would otherwise have been hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 from coal and gas.
The geographic picture has also shifted dramatically. China alone accounted for more than half of global solar additions, deploying an average of one gigawatt of solar capacity every three days. India set new national records for renewable deployment. The European Union saw solar overtake coal in its generation mix for the second straight year. The United States, buoyed by a pipeline of large-scale solar and storage projects, posted double-digit growth in renewables even amid policy uncertainty.
Ember's analysis also projects that in 2026, both solar and wind are each on track to generate more electricity globally than nuclear power — another first. Renewables are now the fastest-growing major source of electricity in history, scaling faster than coal did during the industrial revolution and faster than natural gas during its 2000s boom.
The International Energy Agency, in a separate report published the same week, echoed the findings. The IEA's 2026 Global Energy Review confirmed that overall global energy demand rose just 1.3 percent in 2025, below historical averages, while solar alone provided almost a quarter of that new demand. "Solar is now the fastest-growing energy source in history," the agency wrote.
Why now? Analysts point to three factors. First, the cost of solar panels has fallen by more than 90 percent since 2010, with additional sharp drops in 2024 and 2025 making new solar the cheapest source of electricity in most countries. Second, battery prices have followed the same curve, making solar-plus-storage a dispatchable, 24-hour power source that can compete head-to-head with gas peaker plants. Third, global manufacturing capacity for solar modules and batteries has scaled up so quickly that supply has routinely outstripped forecasts.
The shift carries enormous climate implications. Power generation is the single largest source of global CO2 emissions, and Ember's data suggest emissions from the sector are now at — or very near — their historical peak. Total electricity-sector emissions rose just 1.4 percent in 2025, despite strong demand growth, and are expected to start falling in 2026.
"The direction of travel is clear," said Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, Ember's lead analyst on the report. "The question is no longer if clean energy will dominate the grid, but how fast the transition happens."
Not every region is moving at the same speed. Africa and parts of Southeast Asia still rely heavily on coal and gas to meet rising demand, though investment in off-grid solar is beginning to accelerate. Analysts say the next frontier is making sure the benefits of cheap clean electricity reach everyone — powering new industries, electrifying transport, and expanding energy access where it is still limited.
For now, though, the milestone stands on its own. Somewhere along the way in 2025, a quiet line was crossed: the world began meeting its new electricity needs with the sun and the wind.
