For the first time, renewable energy accounts for 30% of the world’s electricity supply

Thanks to the rapid growth of wind and solar power, renewable energy generated a record share of global electricity in 2023. This year marks a turning point in the transition to low-carbon energy, with coal and gas electricity generation on the brink of a long-term decline, according to think tank Ember.

Green electricity rose from 29.4% of total electricity generation in 2022 to 30.3% last year, a new high. This was particularly driven by the rapid adoption of wind and solar power in China. Other renewable energies such as hydropower and bioenergy accounted for the remainder of renewable power generation.

Solar power is the fastest growing power source, increasing its share of electricity generation from 4.6 percent in 2022 to 5.5 percent in 2023. This is a continuation of a long-term trend. Since 2000, wind and solar power generation has increased from just 0.2% of the world’s electricity to a record 13.4% today.

Although the share of electricity generation from fossil fuels decreased from 61.4% in 2022 to 60.6% in 2023, electricity generation from these fuels increased slightly, mainly due to a 2.2% increase in overall energy demand in China. Nuclear power provided 9.1% of electricity, the same as in 2022.

A further surge in the deployment of wind and solar power should cause fossil fuel electricity generation to decline in absolute terms in 2024 for the first time outside of an economic crisis or pandemic, even as electricity demand increases. Ember said. Hannah Broadbent.

“We truly believe that 2023 was a major turning point in the history of energy,” she says. “We believe that not only has renewable energy reached this historic milestone, but also fossil power generation has peaked. We expect fossil production to begin to decline at a global level starting this year.

Fossil fuel electricity production should fall in absolute terms in 2023, Broadbent said, but severe droughts in China, India, Vietnam and Mexico have curtailed hydropower generation. Coal-fired power plants entered the picture to fill this gap, increasing power sector emissions by 1%.

Ember expects emissions from electricity generation to fall by 4% in 2024, assuming hydropower returns to partial normality in 2024, marking the beginning of a long-term decline in fossil fuels. It has said.

But meeting global climate goals will require even faster expansion of green electricity deployment in the coming years. Model suggests wind and solar Must supply 40% of the world’s electricity generation To reach the goal of limiting global warming to more than 1.5°C, we will need to approximately triple our current contribution by the end of the 2010s.