Kathmadu: More than 40 percent of the world’s electricity was generated from clean energy sources in 2024, the highest share since the 1940s, according to a new report by the global energy think tank Ember. However, global carbon dioxide emissions rose to an all-time high, driven by increased electricity demand during an unusually hot year.

The BBC, citing Ember’s findings, reported that 40.9% of global electricity came from non-fossil sources last year, including solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear energy. Despite this progress, total emissions climbed to 14.6 billion tonnes in 2024 — the highest level on record.

The rise in emissions was largely attributed to a 4% increase in global electricity demand, fueled in part by soaring temperatures and the resulting surge in air conditioning use. This pushed the use of coal and gas up by 1.4%, with fossil fuels still accounting for more than half of global electricity production — 34% from coal and 22% from gas.

Solar power remains the fastest-growing energy source globally. According to Ember, solar generation has doubled every three years since 2012. China continues to lead the solar expansion, contributing over half of global solar growth, while India’s solar capacity doubled between 2023 and 2024.

“Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition,” said Phil Macdonald, Ember’s managing director. “Hotter weather drove the fossil generation increase in 2024, but we’re very unlikely to see a similar jump in 2025.”

Wind and solar combined now produce roughly 15% of global electricity, while hydropower and nuclear contribute 14% and 9%, respectively. However, both hydro and nuclear are growing at a much slower pace.

Despite the milestone in clean energy generation, Ember’s report underscores that the expansion of renewables has not yet been fast enough to reduce overall global emissions. The continued rapid growth in energy demand, especially in fast-developing economies like India and China, is outpacing the clean energy transition.

In a separate development, the European Copernicus climate service reported that March 2025 was the second hottest on record, extending a string of record-breaking temperature months globally.

Source: BBC