Renewables will overtake coal as world’s biggest power source next year — IEA
Renewables will usurp coal as the world’s leading source of power generation in 2025, according to a new analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The share of renewable technologies in the global electricity mix is expected to reach 35% in 2025 — a 5 percentage point increase in two years. On the other hand, coal’s share will decline to 33% next year, per the IEA’s projections, which are often criticised for underestimating the growth of wind and solar PV.
The world will add enough wind and solar capacity next year to power both France and Italy, with the two technologies increasing their share of the global electricity mix to 18% in 2025 — up from a mere 4% a decade earlier.
And with deployments of clean energy technologies likely to at least match rapid power demand growth, carbon emissions from the electricity sector will fall from 2025 — or even this year if China’s hydro plants continue to recover after last year’s drought, the IEA says. That’s thanks to coal-fired generation having reached its peak amid the renewables boom.
The emissions intensity of the world’s power system will decrease from 460 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour in 2023 to 425g CO2/kWh in 2025.
