The global power sector appears to be entering a permanent era of structural fossil fuel decline as record-breaking solar growth has finally pushed clean energy production to a level that meets all new electricity demand. According to the authors of the newly released report, the stagnation of fossil generation in 2025 marks a historic turning point where traditional fuels have reached a plateau before an inevitable downturn.
“We have firmly entered the era of clean growth. Clean energy is now scaling fast enough to absorb rising global electricity demand, keeping fossil generation flat before its inevitable decline.”
In plain terms, this means that even as the world’s total need for electricity increases to power things like electric cars and data centers, the amount of energy generated from renewable sources like solar and wind is growing even faster. Because these clean sources are now meeting all of the world’s new power needs, there is no longer a need to increase the burning of coal or gas, which effectively caps the growth of fossil fuels and sets them on a path toward a steady retreat.
The report “Global Electricity Review 2026” was published by the energy think tank Ember on April 21, 2026. Prepared by a team of researchers led by Nicolas Fulghum, the study offers a comprehensive overview of how clean energy met all global electricity demand growth over the past year.
