Emissions from electricity may have peaked

 From Our World in Data

Solar and wind energy have grown quickly in recent years, but global electricity demand has grown faster. So while their share of electricity generation kept rising, it wasn't enough to push fossil fuels into absolute decline.

But in 2025, that changed. According to Ember's Global Electricity Review, low-carbon electricity sources grew faster than demand, pushing some fossil fuels out of the mix.

Global electricity generation increased by around 850 terawatt-hours (TWh) from 2024 to 2025. As you can see in the chart, solar and wind accounted for nearly all of this growth. While the world still burned slightly more gas, this was more than offset by a decline in coal and oil.

 From now on, it gets easier.  Growth in wind and solar and batteries is much faster than growth in electricity demand, even if we include growing data centre demand.  Rises in output from renewables may not exceed the rise in demand this year, but they will next year, and each year thereafter, by ever-increasing amounts.  Add to that the explosive growth in EVs, and we have prolly passed peak emissions, peak oil and peak coal.   The Iran War has shown how unwise it is for countries to rely on oil, and coal, as the war has also pushed up coal prices.  It isn't just economics driving these transitions: it's also national interest.

That doesn't mean everything is hunky-dory, because temperatures will go on rising until emissions have fallen significantly.  The rise in temperatures is proportional to the level of emissions.  But we're getting there.  Yes, it's taken us too long, it's been too slow, and it's very late.  But it's finally happening.  And if we work at it, we can accelerate that shift, now that it's going in the right direction.