Where the world's electricity came from in 2025
The world generated 31,704 TWh of electricity in 2025, and a third of it still came from coal. Ember’s annual statistics for 2025 put coal at 33.1 per cent of world generation, gas at 21.7 per cent, hydro at 14.0 per cent, nuclear at 8.9 per cent, solar at 8.8 per cent and wind at 8.5 per cent. Fossil fuels of all kinds supplied 57.5 per cent. That is the lowest fossil share in the 26 years Ember covers, and it is still a clear majority.
The 2025 mix
World electricity generation by source, 2025 (Ember, annual):
| Source | TWh | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | 10,492 | 33.1% |
| Gas | 6,871 | 21.7% |
| Hydro | 4,422 | 14.0% |
| Nuclear | 2,807 | 8.9% |
| Solar | 2,795 | 8.8% |
| Wind | 2,701 | 8.5% |
| Other fossil | 879 | 2.8% |
| Bioenergy | 646 | 2.0% |
| Other renewables | 91 | 0.3% |
Ember’s “other fossil” category is mostly oil. “Other renewables” covers geothermal, tidal and wave.
What changed since 2015
Ten years is long enough to see the shape of the change. In 2015 the world generated 23,993 TWh, so output has grown by 32 per cent. The mix moved as follows:
- Wind and solar together: 4.5 per cent in 2015, 17.3 per cent in 2025. Their combined output rose from 1,086 TWh to 5,495 TWh.
- Coal: 38.7 per cent in 2015, 33.1 per cent in 2025. The share fell, but the volume rose, from 9,296 TWh to 10,492 TWh.
- Gas: 23.1 per cent to 21.7 per cent, again with volume rising, from 5,540 TWh to 6,871 TWh.
- Nuclear: 10.6 per cent to 8.9 per cent. Output grew a little, from 2,533 TWh to 2,807 TWh, but far more slowly than demand.
- Hydro: 16.2 per cent to 14.0 per cent, with output up from 3,882 TWh to 4,422 TWh.
- All fossil fuels: 66.5 per cent to 57.5 per cent.
The pattern is consistent across every source except wind and solar. Demand grew faster than these older fleets could, so their shares fell while their output rose. Wind and solar took almost all of the growth.
Cleaner per unit, higher in total
Two numbers move in opposite directions, and both are worth quoting.
The carbon intensity of world electricity, which is the emissions produced per unit of electricity, fell from 534 gCO2 per kWh in 2015 to 459 in 2025, a drop of 14 per cent. Every kilowatt hour delivered in 2025 was cleaner than in 2015.
Total emissions from electricity still rose, from 12,806 million tonnes of CO2 in 2015 to 14,553 million tonnes in 2025, up 14 per cent. The world simply used much more electricity.
2025 was the first dip since 2020
Inside that ten year rise there is a turn. Emissions from world electricity in 2025 came to 14,553 million tonnes, slightly below the 14,571 million tonnes of 2024. That is the first year on year fall since 2020, and 2020 was a pandemic year in which world generation itself fell.
2025 was different. Generation rose by 827 TWh, and emissions still edged down. Coal generation fell by 54 TWh, its first fall since 2020, and solar generation rose by 640 TWh in the same year.
One year is not a trend, and the fall is only a tenth of a per cent. It is worth watching rather than celebrating. Ember’s figures for 2026 will say more.
The wider picture
The world average hides enormous variation. France generated electricity at 41 gCO2 per kWh in 2025, Norway at 28. India was at 671 and South Africa at 699. China, which alone produced 10,506 TWh in 2025, a third of the world total, sat at 528.
You can rank every country by intensity on the carbon page, browse by fuel at /fuels/, or put two countries side by side at /compare/.
How we calculated this
All figures come from Ember’s annual dataset, as loaded into this site’s export on 15 September 2026.
- World shares, output and totals:
sections.annual.generation_twh,sections.annual.share_pctandsections.annual.total_generation_twhinregions/world.json, for 2015, 2020, 2024 and 2025. - Fossil share: the sum of the
share_pctvalues for coal, gas and other fossil in the same file and year. Wind and solar combined is the sum of those twoshare_pctvalues. - Carbon intensity:
sections.annual.carbon_intensity_gco2_kwh, and total emissionssections.annual.total_emissions_mtco2, both inregions/world.json. - Country intensities and China’s output:
sections.annual.carbon_intensity_gco2_kwhandsections.annual.total_generation_twhincountries/<id>.jsonfor 2025.
Ember statistics are annual and describe a completed calendar year. They are not a live reading, and Ember revises earlier years as countries report. Licence details are on the sources page, and the derivation rules are on the methodology page.