According to an analysis, almost a third of global electricity generation was generated from renewable energies last year. Growth in solar and wind power led to the 30 percent mark being exceeded for the first time in 2023, according to a published report by the think tank Ember.
Since 2000, the share of renewables has increased from 19 percent, primarily due to more and more wind and solar energy. While their share of global electricity generation was 0.2 percent in 2000, a peak of 13.4 percent was reached in 2023, as the authors wrote. Another renewable energy source is hydropower.
According to the information, solar power also grew the fastest last year. However, electricity generation from hydropower fell to a five-year low, due to droughts in China, among others. According to the authors, this deficit was offset by an increase in coal-fired power generation – which in turn led to a one percent increase in global emissions from the electricity sector. Coal-fired power generation was increased primarily in four countries that were severely affected by droughts: China, India, Vietnam and Mexico.
For their analysis, the experts used various data on gross electricity generation, for example from the EU statistics office Eurostat or the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
