🌅 A Record Year for Global Wind and Solar

SOURCE

Ember

WHAT TO KNOW

• The world installed a record 814 gigawatts of new solar and wind capacity in 2025, up 17% from 2024 (696 GW). The new report from Ember found solar continues to be the global leader when it comes to renewables deployments, gaining four times more capacity last year than wind (put differently, the world added 4 GW of new solar power for every 1 GW of new wind power). Notably, two-thirds of the new solar and wind capacity was added in China.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Renewables also had a banner year in the U.S., where wind and solar accounted for a record 17% of the total electricity generation in 2025. The U.S. still lags behind Europe, where wind and solar represented 30% of the total electricity generation last year, surpassing fossil fuels (29% of total generation) for the first time ever.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The world invested $2.3 trillion in clean energy projects in 2025, up 8% from the year prior to mark a new record high. Other research shows 43 countries that together represent 92% of global GDP have successfully decoupled economic growth from carbon emissions over the past decade, meaning they’ve been able to expand economically while either decreasing their emissions or curbing emissions to a slower rate than economic growth.