A new report published on Wednesday by energy think tank Ember revealed that fossil sources such as coal and gas produced 61% of global power generation last year. The highest share of fossil generation was 68% in 2007 and since then it has declined slowly by steadily “due to fossil fuels growing at a slower rate than global electricity demand.”

Coal continued to remain the largest source making up for 35% followed by gas with 23%.  It is also noticeable that renewables reached 30% of global electricity generation for the first time, compared to a share of just 19% recorded in 2000. 

However, despite record renewables, global emissions from the power sector also reached a new high, rising by 1% compared to 2022, instead of declining by 0,4% as predicted in the previous report. The increase in emissions was caused by higher power demand (+2,2%) combined with a record fall in hydro generation amid severe and extended droughts mainly in China and India. 

In the past two decades, emissions in the power sector dropped only in four years: in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, in 2015 due to reduced coal generation in China, in 2019 alongside coal to gas switching in the US, and in 2020 following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Looking ahead, “2023 is likely to have been the peak of power sector emissions with a new era of falling emissions beginning from 2024 onwards,” predicts Ember. The optimism is based on the solar and wind additions which are expected to lead to tripling global renewable capacity by 2030 and “has the potential to help halve power sector emissions by 2030.”