Renewables surpass coal, oil, and gas as the largest source of new global energy supply in 2025

Renewables became the single largest source of new global energy supply in 2025, outpacing coal, oil, and gas individually for the first time this century outside periods of major economic disruption. That is the headline finding from data published by Ember in partnership with the Energy Institute's Statistical Review of World Energy, which tracks production, consumption, trade, and emissions across more than 200 countries.

The shift marks a structural break from six decades of fossil-led supply growth. Energy supply growth ran on oil before the 1970s oil shocks, then on coal through China's industrial expansion in the late 1990s and 2000s. The 2025 data confirms renewables have now taken that lead role.

The numbers behind the shift

Solar generation grew 30% in 2025, the fastest rate among all major power sources. Wind followed at 8.2% growth. Fossil fuel generation, taken together, declined 0.2% over the same period. Clean electricity, which includes solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear, now accounts for 43% of global power generation, per Ember's figures.

Ember's Global Electricity Review 2026, released earlier this year, frames the dynamic directly: clean power met all global electricity demand growth in 2025, meaning the net increase in consumption was absorbed entirely by renewables rather than new fossil capacity. That is a meaningful operational signal for utilities and large industrial buyers planning capacity additions or power purchase agreements over the next several years.

Regional dynamics operators should track

The EU crossed a notable threshold in 2025, with wind and solar together generating more power than fossil fuels for the first time. That changes the procurement calculus for European industrial operators who have historically anchored long-term power contracts to gas benchmarks. The EU milestone also has compliance implications, as grid emissions intensity continues to fall across member states.

India moved into a different category of clean power market in 2025, overtaking France and Canada to become the world's fourth largest generator of clean electricity. For multinationals with manufacturing or data center operations in India, the improved clean energy availability on the grid strengthens the viability of 24/7 clean power matching commitments.

In the United States, solar met the majority of electricity demand growth in 2025, according to Ember's country-level data, even as federal policy remained uncertain. That growth came primarily from utility-scale deployments and continued rooftop expansion, suggesting the commercial pipeline is driven more by economics than by policy tailwinds.

China continued to rebuild its power sector around renewables, with rapid capacity additions in both solar and wind progressively reducing the marginal role of coal in meeting incremental demand. For supply chain teams sourcing energy-intensive manufacturing from China-based suppliers, this affects scope 3 emissions accounting as grid intensity in major industrial provinces shifts.

Coal methane: a separate risk still on the books

Ember's data also flags a parallel issue for sustainability and procurement teams: coal mines leaked 40 million metric tons of methane in 2024. The organization's Global Coal Mine Methane Review 2026, published in April, found that countries' self-reported methane inventories capture only a fraction of actual emissions, and that affordable mitigation technologies capable of significantly reducing those emissions already exist. For procurement directors managing supplier emissions disclosures or carbon accounting under frameworks like the GHG Protocol, the gap between reported and actual coal mine methane is a material data quality risk.

What this means for your team

• Re-evaluate long-term power purchase agreement benchmarks: with renewables now the dominant source of new supply and fossil generation declining globally, pricing assumptions anchored to gas or coal capacity costs may need updating.
• Reassess scope 2 and scope 3 emissions factors: grid emissions intensity is falling in the EU, India, and parts of the US, which can affect both your own reported footprint and supplier assessments.
• Audit coal mine methane exposure in supplier data: if any tier-1 or tier-2 suppliers operate in or source from coal-dependent regions, verified methane data, not self-reported inventories, should be the basis for emissions disclosures.
• Use country-level clean electricity data in site selection: India's jump to fourth globally in clean electricity generation and the EU's fossil-to-renewables crossover point are now material inputs for data center, manufacturing, or logistics siting decisions.