NO BAD NEWS
Renewables Just Beat Coal Worldwide — For The First Time Since 1919
Over a century of coal as the planet's biggest power source quietly ended in 2025.
By the NoBadNews desk · Published 2026-07-07 · Updated 2026-07-08
Do renewables generate more electricity than coal now?
Yes — in 2025 renewables generated 33.8% of the world's electricity while coal slipped to 33.0%, the first time renewables have out-generated coal since 1919, per Ember's Global Electricity Review 2026.
The driver was solar, which added a record 636 TWh in a single year — the largest one-year jump of any electricity source ever recorded. Wind and solar together met 99% of the world's growth in electricity demand. Coal fell below a third of global electricity for the first time in the modern record. Quietly, the grid tipped.
Source: Ember — Global Electricity Review 2026 · Image: AI illustration of real verified news (our method).
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