Report: Clean Energy’s Share of World’s Electricity Supply Reaches 40%

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja 

More than 40 per cent of the world’s electricity was generated without burning fossil fuels in 2024, according to new research by the think-tank, Ember.

But carbon dioxide emissions, which warm the planet, have risen to an all time high, the report said, with hot weather pushing up the overall demand for power, a BBC news report said. That meant an increase in the use of fossil fuel burning power stations.

Solar power continues to be the fastest-growing energy source, with the amount of electricity it generates doubling in the last three years.

“Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition. Amid the noise, it’s essential to focus on the real signal. Hotter weather drove the fossil generation increase in 2024, but we’re very unlikely to see a similar jump in 2025,” said the Managing Director of Ember, Phil Macdonald.

In a separate report, the European Copernicus climate service said March 2025 was the second hottest on record, extending a spell of record or near record breaking temperatures.

Ember is a global energy think tank which has been predicting for several years that emissions of the climate warming gas carbon dioxide were about to start falling. But this hasn’t happened yet due to increasing global demand for electricity.

Cheap and relatively easy to install, for the twentieth year in a row solar is the fastest growing electricity source. According to Ember, the amount generated by solar panels has doubled every three years since 2012.

China continues to dominate the growth of solar with more than half of the increase taking place there. India’s solar capacity doubled between 2023 and 2024.

Though it is growing fast, solar remains a relatively small part of the global energy mix contributing just under 7 per cent of global supply – that’s the same as powering the entire country of India.

Wind contributes just over 8 per cent, with hydropower contributing 14 per cent making it the largest source of clean energy. Both hydro-electric and nuclear power (9 per cent) are growing much more slowly than wind and solar.

The report said that clean energy sources contributed more than 40 per cent of global electricity generation for the first time since the 1940s. Back then demand was much lower, and hydroelectric power stations contributed a significant share.