Global renewable energy investment achieved a record high in the first half of the year, with wind and solar power surpassing coal in the global energy mix for the first time, according to recent reports from Ember and the IEA. This rapid transition, primarily driven by supportive national policies and dramatic cost reductions, particularly in solar technology led by Chinese manufacturers, is projected to more than double installed renewable power capacity by 2030, with solar meeting over 80% of new global energy demand in H1 2025. While the U.S. experienced a 17% rise in coal-fired power and a 50% reduction in its renewable growth outlook due to policy headwinds, and the EU saw increased gas usage from weather-related factors, these regional setbacks are not expected to impede the accelerating global shift towards renewables, which continues to displace fossil fuel-generated power.
If you live in the U.S., you could be forgiven for thinking that renewable energy is on the outs. In July, Congress voted to rapidly phase out longstanding tax credit support for wind and solar power, and the Trump administration has taken seemingly every step in its power to halt the development of individual wind and solar projects — even as domestic electricity demand rises and new sources of electricity become more important than ever. But even as clean energy deployment hit roadblocks in the U.S., the world overall set a new record for renewable energy investment over the first half of this year. Wind and solar power are meeting and even exceeding a global rise in energy demand. Indeed, electricity output from these sources is increasing faster than the world can use it, displacing some fossil fuel-generated power in the process. That’s according to a report published Tuesday by Ember, a global energy think tank, which mapped this year’s global power supply by analyzing monthly data from 88 countries that are responsible for more than 90 percent of global electricity demand. “Overall — we’re talking globally — renewables overtook coal,” said Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka, a senior electricity analyst at Ember and a co-author of the company’s report. “And I expect this to hold.” This year marks the first time that renewable energy sources have outpowered coal in the global energy mix. In fact, global use of fossil fuels for electricity actually declined slightly, compared to the same period in 2024. Another report published this week by the International Energy Agency, or IEA, an intergovernmental energy research and policy organization, projects that the quantity of installed renewable power, meaning the maximum amount of energy that can be produced by systems like solar fields, hydroelectric dams, and wind turbines, will more than double by the end of this decade. National policies encouraging the development of green technology as well as astounding drops in the price of solar power — primarily driven by Chinese manufacturers, which build more than 80 percent of the world’s solar energy components — are largely driving the transition. And even that projection may be conservative. “The IEA has, consistently over the last couple of decades, way underestimated how fast renewables are growing,” said Robert Brecha, a senior climate and energy adviser at Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute, who was not involved in either the Ember or IEA report. “I don’t see any reason to believe that renewables won’t double by 2030.” The vast majority of the renewable energy projected to go online in the coming years will come from solar, which already met more than 80 percent of new global energy demand in the first six months of 2025, according to the Ember report. In China, the largest renewable energy growth market in the world, and in India, which is on pace to become the second-largest market, a major uptick in solar energy output is responsible for a historic global decline in coal-generated power. In the U.S. and European Union, however, fossil fuel generation rose in the first half of this year. In Europe, poor wind conditions and drought, rather than state policies, took a bite out of the bloc’s wind and hydroelectric production, leading to a 14 percent rise in gas-fired power. Across the Atlantic, U.S. coal-fired power generation rose 17 percent. The policy outlook for renewables in the U.S. is so bleak that the IEA lowered the country’s renewable capacity growth expectations by 50 percent compared to last year’s projections. That U.S.-driven dip drags down the agency’s global projections for renewable energy growth by 5 percent. Overall, however, the IEA still expects renewable energy capacity to grow even faster between 2025 and 2030 than it did between 2020 and 2025. “They can slow it down; they can do a lot more damage than I thought they could,” said Brecha, referring to the Trump administration’s efforts to slow the growth of renewable energy. “But they can’t stop it.” Global renewable energy investment reached a new record in the first half of this year, with wind and solar power exceeding global energy demand growth. This unprecedented shift marks the first time renewable sources have outpowered coal in the global energy mix, contributing to a slight decline in global fossil fuel electricity use compared to the same period in 2024, as reported by Ember. The International Energy Agency projects installed renewable power capacity to more than double by 2030, a forecast potentially conservative given historical underestimates. This acceleration is primarily driven by supportive national policies and significant cost reductions in solar power, largely facilitated by Chinese manufacturers. Solar alone met over 80% of new global energy demand in H1 2025, with China and India leading its deployment. Despite the robust global trend, the U.S. and E.U. experienced increased fossil fuel generation in H1, with U.S. coal-fired power rising 17% and E.U. gas-fired power up 14% due to weather conditions. The IEA consequently reduced the U.S.'s renewable capacity growth expectations by 50%, impacting global projections by 5%. However, this regional drag is not expected to halt the overall accelerating global transition towards renewables.
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