Highlights
+19%
Change in global wind and solar generation
+1.1%
Change in global coal generation
-0.2%
Change in global gas generation
About
Ember’s fourth annual Global Electricity Review aims to provide the most transparent and up-to-date overview of changes in global electricity generation in 2022 and a realistic summary of how “on track” the electricity transition is for limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees.
The report analyses electricity data from 78 countries representing 93% of global electricity demand and includes estimated changes in the remaining generation. It also dives deeper into the top ten CO2 emitting countries and regions, accounting for over 80% of global CO2 emissions.
We make all of the data freely accessible to empower others to do their own analysis and help speed the switch to clean electricity. Use our Data Explorer to find out more.
Thank you to all of the contributors at Ember and to the peer reviewers on the Advisory Board.
Executive summary
Wind and solar reach a record 12% of global electricity in 2022
As soon as 2023, wind and solar could push the world into a new era of falling fossil generation, and therefore of falling power sector emissions.
Małgorzata Wiatros-Motyka Senior Electricity Analyst, Ember
In this decisive decade for the climate, it is the beginning of the end of the fossil age. We are entering the clean power era. The stage is set for wind and solar to achieve a meteoric rise to the top. Clean electricity will reshape the global economy, from transport to industry and beyond. A new era of falling fossil emissions means the coal power phasedown will happen, and the end of gas power growth is now within sight. Change is coming fast. However, it all depends on the actions taken now by governments, businesses and citizens to put the world on a pathway to clean power by 2040.
Foreword
A new era of clean power - no more excuses
Chile’s Minister of Energy, Diego Pardow, and Ember’s Non-Executive Chairs, Baroness Bryony Worthington and Harry Benham, reflect on the findings of the Global Electricity Review and the journey ahead as the world transitions to clean electricity.
Last September, when I had been Chile’s Minister of Energy for two weeks, I had to travel to the Los Lagos region in the south of the country. In one of the activities on my schedule, I had the opportunity to meet Rodrigo Castillo, owner of a medical supply company who–thanks to a government program–was able to buy an electric car for his deliveries.
In 2019, Rodrigo faced–like the vast majority of Chileans–a significant rise in the price of fossil fuels. Added to this was an increase in inflation, which caused an overall rise in the cost of living for people.
Today, thanks to electrifying his transport, Rodrigo has managed to reduce his expenses by a third, which has made his company more competitive in his region. He is a concrete example of how the transition–in this case through electromobility–can offer not only cleaner cities and better jobs but also concrete improvements for citizens. That is what a green economy is all about.
In recent years, Chile has made important progress with respect to its transition. The latest achievements have positioned Chile as the best emerging country to invest in renewable energies, added to the high penetration of clean energies in our system, with last year’s milestone standing out that, for the first time, solar and wind overtook coal in electricity generation.
In that respect, 2023 seems promising at a global level, especially thanks to the prediction of this report, which indicates that emissions from the electricity sector could begin to decrease as of this year. But we still have a long journey to travel, with many challenges ahead and with a clear objective: we must act quickly, always putting people at the centre. There are no more excuses.
Chapter 1 | Pathway for 1.5C
Achieving clean electricity worldwide by 2040
The global electricity sector is the biggest CO2 emitter and the first sector that needs to be decarbonised for the world to achieve net zero, as it helps unlock clean electrification of other sectors. To understand progress on climate goals, we must also closely track the electricity transition.
Investment in clean electricity will ensure the most cost effective path to achieve net zero, not only in the power sector, but the entire energy system.
For developing countries, investment in clean sources will play a crucial role in meeting rising electricity demand, which is expanding as the world’s population grows and countries increase standards of living. Globally, one in ten people still do not have access to electricity, mostly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Leapfrogging fossil fuels and moving directly to clean power will provide multiple benefits to health, the economy and climate, while increasing access to affordable energy as recommended by the United Nations in Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7).
But it’s not only developing countries where electricity demand will expand and clean investment needs to keep pace. Electricity underpins the decarbonisation of other sectors, as clean electricity replaces fossil fuel combustion in transport, heating, cooling and industry. In 2022, electricity accounted for 20% of world’s final energy consumption. By 2030, it is predicted to account for 27%.
2022 was the year in which electric cars, heat pumps and electrolysers (to produce green hydrogen) were pushed into the next level of growth. This trend is expected to continue, but to deliver on necessary emissions reductions it must be matched by investment in clean electricity to feed into the expanding electrified economy.
Chapter 2 | Electricity Transition in 2022
Electricity is at its cleanest as wind and solar hit 12%
2022 beat 2020 as the cleanest ever year, as emissions intensity reached a record low of 436 gCO2/kWh. Wind and solar reached a record 12% of global electricity generation, but they still weren’t built fast enough to meet all of the world’s increasing need for electricity. Consequently, coal and other fossils met the remaining gap, driving up emissions to a new record high.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the global energy crisis in 2022 may well be remembered as a turning point that made many governments rethink their reliance on fossil fuels. Energy security concerns and new policies led to the largest ever upward revision of IEA’s renewable power forecast in 2022.
The EU’s REPowerEU plan was developed to rapidly reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports from Russia, largely by growing the use of renewable electricity and improving energy efficiency. In the US, the Inflation Reduction Act that was introduced in August 2022, directs nearly $370 billion of government funding to clean energy, with the goal of substantially lowering the nation’s carbon emissions by the end of this decade. Other major economies continued to roll-out existing policies, like China’s 14th Five-Year Plan and new market reforms.
Additionally, investment in clean energy technologies matched that of fossil fuels for the first time in 2022. Developing economies like Indonesia and Viet Nam secured commitments for international funding in 2022 from historic high emitters like the UK, US, and EU to support them in displacing coal with renewables and hence decoupling their economic growth from emissions.
The energy crisis provides a clear motive for low-carbon energy transitions: the need for greater energy diversification, reduced reliance on fossil fuels, and an acceleration of renewable energy. However, the crisis also risks locking in some fossil infrastructure, with some countries securing long term contracts for gas.
While 2022 may be seen as the turning point, the impacts of the policy developments on clean electricity agreed throughout the year won’t be felt for a while. The change that we have witnessed so far in clean power and in electrification is therefore only the tip of the iceberg.
Chapter 3 | The Big Picture
The global electricity system is transforming - but not yet fast enough
A new era of falling fossil power is coming, and that means the gas power phasedown will come soon. This should add further confidence to calls to phase out all fossil fuels ahead of COP28 later in 2023.
Chapter 4 | Global Electricity Trends
Data on the global electricity sector in 2022
An overview of long term trends and the world’s progress towards net zero.
To align with the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario, advanced economies must decarbonise their electricity generation by 2035 and the rest of the world by 2040.
We are not yet seeing the declines needed for those milestones, which require emissions from the power sector to fall by more than 7% per year from 2021 to 2030 and a completely decarbonised power sector by 2040. However, 2022 may be the peak of power sector emissions (see chapter 3). How fast emissions then decline will depend on wind and solar continuing their meteoric growth. There are certainly positive signs as major economies like the G7 continue substantial investment programs to achieve their commitments to clean power by 2035, and more countries recognise the benefits of wind and solar for clean, secure and affordable energy.
Chapter 5 | Electricity Source Trends
Analysis of the different global electricity sources in 2022
The following pages run through a more detailed analysis of the changes in supply of electricity in 2022, and over a longer-term trend.
We have ordered the sections according to the fastest growing sources of electricity.
According to the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario, nuclear power will play a limited role in the global power mix in 2030, keeping its share at about 10%. Yet, to meet the world’s rising demand for power with zero-carbon energy source, the IEA pathway requires nuclear generation to grow by 3.8% annually from 2021 to 2030. From 2015 to 2022, the average growth rate was at just 0.6% and 2022 showed a 4.7% fall.
Chapter 6 | Country and Region Deep Dives
Analysis of the ten largest power sector emitters in 2022
This chapter provides a deeper analysis of what has happened in the countries and regions that are the world’s top ten absolute CO2 emitters. Collectively, they are responsible for around 80% of global emissions from the electricity sector.
We have ordered the sections according to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced from the electricity sector of the given country or region in 2022, or the previous year if no data is available.
Iran’s power sector emissions need to fall to zero by 2040 from the current 183 million tonnes of CO2 to align with the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario. For that target, emissions will need to fall by 10 million tonnes per year, reversing the average annual increase of 6 million tonnes seen since 2015.
Iran has so far not submitted a target date for achieving net zero emissions. Its current electricity mix is dominated by fossil fuels (94%). Although there were plans to add 10 GW of renewable electricity capacity between 2022-2025, the country faces difficulties in accessing finance due to a number of sanctions. According to some experts, this is hindering renewable electricity projects.
Conclusion
2022 - a turning point in the electricity transition
The electricity sector is not yet seeing the emissions declines needed for 1.5C, but change is coming fast.
Emissions rose in 2022 where they should be falling fast. For emissions to fall, first the increase in demand must be met by clean electricity sources. Then clean sources must continue to grow to replace fossil fuels and bring emissions down. Although this didn’t happen last year, there are strong signs that 2022 was a turning point in the global electricity transition. If that’s the case, then 2022 could be the all-time peak of power sector emissions.
Following the energy crisis and security of supply concerns due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many governments rethought their dependency on fossil fuels. This shift could have a lasting and fundamental impact on the pace of energy transition globally. Wind and solar are being prioritised not only because they are clean, but also because in many countries they are cheaper and more secure than fossil fuels. Investment in low carbon energy technology surpassed $1 trillion in 2022—for the first time matching the investment in fossil fuels. This is a good sign but investment must triple by the end of this decade to put the world on track for 1.5C.
Much remains to be done to build on the momentum of wind and solar growth. Lowering permitting times and solving grid connection bottlenecks are parts of the solution. Increasing financing in the clean electricity sector will also be crucial, with help from historic emitters to developing nations that can help them to transition from coal to clean.
Acting now brings the most benefits. Investing in renewables will rapidly pay for itself with cheaper electricity. Moreover, securing clean electricity decades ahead of net zero will unlock the most affordable and effective pathways to economy-wide decarbonisation.
However, the electricity transition is not yet accelerating at the pace required to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis.
There is so much to gain if we succeed, but even more to lose if we fail.
Supporting Material
Downloads
- Global Electricity Review 2023 (English) - PDF (37 MB)
- Global Electricity Review 2023 (Spanish/Español) - PDF (37 MB)
- Global Electricity Review 2023 (Chinese/有以下版本) - PDF (35 MB)
- Data (Monthly) Global Electricity Review - CSV (30 MB)
- Data (Yearly) Global Electricity Review - CSV (22 MB)
- Ember Methodology 2023 - PDF (807 KB)
Methodology
Data sources
This report analyses annual power generation and import data for 215 countries from 2000 to 2021, with 2022 data included for 78 countries representing 93% of global power demand. Data is collected from multi-country datasets (EIA, Eurostat, BP) as well as national sources (e.g China data from the National Bureau of Statistics). The latest annual generation data is estimated using monthly generation data. Annual capacity data is collected from GEM, IRENA and WRI. A detailed methodology can be accessed here. All the data can be viewed and downloaded freely from Ember’s website.
Acknowledgements
Marion Bachelet (PIE – Pooled Fund on International Energy), Kingsmill Bond (RMI), Krzysztof Bolesta (European Commision), Toby Lockwood (Clean Air Task Force), Lauri Myllyvirta (Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air), Oliver Then (vgbe energy e.V.), Scott Smouse (Enerconnex Global, LLC).
Other authors and contributorsDave Jones, Hannah Broadbent, Nicolas Fulghum, Chelsea Bruce-Lockhart, Reynaldo Dizon, Phil MacDonald, Charles Moore, Alison Candlin, Uni Lee, Libby Copsey, Sam Hawkins, Matt Ewen, Bryony Worthington, Harry Benham, Michele Trueman, Muyi Yang, Aditya Lolla, Achmed Shahram Edianto, Paweł Czyżak, Sarah Brown, Chris Rosslowe, Richard Black
Cover imageA fishing boat passes by wind turbines whirling to generate electricity at an offshore wind farm in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu province
Credit: Imagechina Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
Media Coverage
- BBC
- Bloomberg
- Reuters
- CNBC
- Anadolu Agency
- China's The Paper
- El Español
- El Mundo
- Le Figaro
- Focus
- Le Monde
- EuroNews
- Deutsche Welle
- Wall Street Journal
- World Economic Forum
- CNN
- Euractiv
- Times of India
- Japan Times
- Indonesia's Katadata
- Italy's ANSA
- Il Giornale
- El Periódico de España
- The Brussels Times
- South Korea's Yonhap News Agency
- Dhaka Tribune
- Bangladesh's Business Post
- Haber Turk
- Kenya's Standard Media
- Kenya's The Star
- Malaysia's Business Today
- Singapore's The Business Times
- The Voice of Vietnam
- South Africa's News24
- Poland's Rzeczpospolita
- Argentina's La Nación
- Colombia's La República
- Mexico's Milenio
- UK's The Times
- Financial Times
- Colombia's El Tiempo