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High temperatures are seen as the main driver of rising power sector emissions. (Photo: iStock)
According to the latest Global Electricity Review from UK-based energy think tank Ember, low-carbon electricity sources accounted for more than 40% of global power generation for the first time in 2024. Solar power in particular set new records for both generation and installed capacity.
However, rising electricity demand driven by technologies like artificial intelligence has outpaced clean power growth. Meanwhile, heatwaves have pushed up energy use for cooling, causing fossil fuel emissions to climb to historic levels.
Solar leads clean energy growth and drives the transition
Ember reported that low-carbon sources, including nuclear power, made up 40.9% of global electricity generation in 2024. Hydropower was the largest contributor (14.3%), followed by nuclear (9%), wind (8.1%), and solar (6.9%). Combined, solar and wind generation surpassed hydropower output for the first time.
Although solar still contributes less than 10% of global electricity, its output has doubled in just three years, surpassing 2,000 TWh. For the third consecutive year, solar was the largest source of new power generation globally, with over half of that growth coming from China.
The report highlights two major global trends: first, that solar power is on a trajectory of exponential growth; second, that electricity demand remains strong. Ember Managing Director Phil MacDonald emphasized that solar has become the engine of the global energy transition. With battery storage, he said, solar could become an unstoppable force.
Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance, noted that renewable generation grew by 858 TWh last year—more than the total annual consumption of France and the UK combined. The Energy Transitions Commission, a coalition of businesses and NGOs, added that declining costs of solar, storage, wind, and flexible grid solutions could accelerate global decarbonization.
According to Ember, clean energy accounted for 40.9% of global electricity generation in 2024, with combined wind and solar output surpassing hydropower for the first time. (Chart: Global Electricity Review 2025)
Expert: tariffs under Trump could boost green energy
Some experts even suggest that trade tensions, such as tariffs proposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, could indirectly benefit green energy. Euan Graham, one of the report’s authors and a power and data analyst at Ember, argued that in times of geopolitical uncertainty, countries are more likely to prioritize energy security—making solar and wind, which harness natural resources, increasingly attractive.
The report also points out that the growth of clean electricity has started to exceed the rise in overall power demand—a gap expected to widen. In the short term, however, fossil fuel generation remains sensitive to weather fluctuations.
In 2024, rising global temperatures were a major factor behind the increase in fossil fuel power. Cooling demand during heatwaves pushed global electricity consumption up by 4%, leading to a 1.4% rise in fossil-fueled power and driving emissions to an all-time high of 14.6 billion tons. Without these high temperatures, fossil generation would have grown just 0.2%, the report noted.
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