While the economy staggers on a global scale with each announcement of the umpteenth ultimatum or possible return to negotiations to agree on a way out of the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran, all eyes remain on whether there will be a return to normality in the Strait of Hormuz, where the Iranian authorities are concentrating their response in the form of economic retaliation for the military campaign launched against the country. But this is not just another piece of news about the future and the geostrategic importance of the maritime passage that accumulates the flow of 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas.
This Tuesday, it can be said that humanity—with varying degrees of participation, obviously—has already broken a record or made history in one of its greatest collective duties for the future, the energy transition towards renewable and cleaner generation sources. According to the annual report from the British think tank, this has been the first year since 2020—a year marked by pandemic confinements—without an increase in electricity generation resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. It has also been the fifth year without an increase recorded throughout this century.
That is, for the first time in history, the increase registered in the sum of renewable energy sources – solar, wind, hydroelectric; Fundamentally, on a global scale, it has prevented the world from continuing to increase its dependence on fossil fuels. It is one of the conclusions drawn from the work carried out by the prestigious group of analysts from the United Kingdom and that, if one dives into their data, reveals more key factors.
“For the first time in modern history, generation from solar, wind, hydroelectric and other renewable sources accounted for more than a third of global electricity,” the Ember report highlights, to put the focus on the other side of the coin: “In contrast, the share of electricity generated with coal fell below a third for the first time.” It is worth highlighting the leading role of solar energy, taking into account that the “increase in this energy was 18 times greater than that of gas, the only fossil fuel that increased in 2025.” To get an idea, the total volume of global solar generation would already satisfy all the electricity demand in the European Union.
Why now, what has changed? Who has done their homework?
Although energy production through renewables is a capital subject in Spain, one of the most advanced countries in this matter, the reality is that there have been fundamental changes in two countries that explain how electricity generation with clean energy has been able overtake to the historical use of coal. A fossil fuel that is also one of the main culprits of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.
Two industrial giants—and some of the biggest polluters internationally—have shown that investment, especially in photovoltaic installations, pays off. These are China and India, where dependence on burning coal has suffered significant cumulative declines since 2025. “In both countries, record additions of clean electricity outpaced the increase in demand,” the report says.
Specifically, in China, it fell by 56 TWh (-0.9%), breaking the first decrease since 2015; while in India, “a record increase in both solar and wind generation, together with strong hydroelectric production and a below-average increase in demand, led to a decrease in fossil generation of 52 TWh (-3.3%)” This dynamic was achieved after “four years of strong increases in electricity generation from fossil fuels in the wake of the economic recovery following the pandemic” of the coronavirus.
In the first case, it is worth noting that China’s commitment to renewable energy translates into entire mountains full of panels, but also deserts that have been used to combine projects with environmental initiatives, to green them and confront desertification. But China is also the world leader in solar energy, with an installation that exceeds an electrical production of 300 gigawatts (GW), in addition to being the main exporter of the technology, that is, photovoltaic panels – it has the largest reserves of rare earths in the world. For its part, India occupies third place in the world in terms of electricity generation from solar energy.
The world’s other pending tasks: modernizing electrical networks
However, Ember’s report also makes it clear that the news is positive, but it opens up new challenges that must be taken into account quickly. “Clean electricity is rapidly redefining the foundations of energy security in a volatile world,” said Aditya Lolla, director general of the aforementioned organization.
“It is already helping countries reduce their dependence on imports and the costs of fossil fuels, while meeting the growing demand for electricity,” added Lolla, to focus on that next and necessary task: “The next step is to modernize networks and regulatory frameworks so that electrical systems are prepared for this new reality.”
