The World’s Electricity Mix Is Shifting — Who’s Decarbonizing Fastest? (2010–2025)

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The electricity transition is real, but uneven. From 2010 to 2025, low-carbon electricity rose in many places because wind and solar scaled hard. Still, some countries decarbonized much faster than others because coal fell and stayed down, grids kept pace, and policy signals didn’t flip every year.

• Low-carbon share is a clean way to compare systems without getting fooled by demand growth.
• Big jumps usually come from coal decline plus clean build-out at the same time.
• Wind and solar explain most growth after the mid-2010s.
• Nuclear can be decisive for reliability and low emissions in specific systems.

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Coal was still the backbone of global power generation in 2010. After the mid-2010s, wind and solar costs fell and deployment accelerated.

By 2025, the global mix is more diverse. Coal remains large, but it’s under pressure in many regions. Renewables rise almost everywhere.

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We use one comparable indicator: the share of electricity produced from low-carbon sources (renewables + nuclear). Shares help compare systems even when demand grows.

• Low-carbon share up means the system is getting cleaner per kWh.
• Coal share down often drives the biggest visible gains.
• Starting point matters when comparing “fast movers.”

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Fast decarbonizers usually do three things together: push coal down, pull renewables up, and prevent the grid and market rules from becoming the bottleneck.

• Stable build-out beats sudden bursts followed by policy pauses.
• Coal retirement schedules matter more when they are credible.
• Transmission decides whether renewables get used or wasted.

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Nuclear doesn’t look like a “fast growth” story globally, but it can be a stabilizer. When nuclear output drops unexpectedly, emissions can rise because something dispatchable fills the gap.

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Many coal-heavy systems face pace problems: demand rises quickly, grids are constrained, and financing is expensive. If clean supply doesn’t scale faster than demand, the fossil share stays high.

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A real shift is visible: coal shrinks and stays down, while clean sources fill the space. If coal drops briefly and rebounds, low-carbon share stalls.

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Wind and solar scaled because they’re modular and fast. Integration is the new challenge: if grids can’t absorb output, curtailment rises.

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Many systems hit a grid wall: permitting is slow, connection queues grow, and local opposition blocks lines. Market design matters too—flexibility must be rewarded.

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Rankings simplify a messy world. A country already clean in 2010 may not show huge gains by 2025, while a coal-heavy system can show big jumps from a low base.

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The next phase is harder. Cheap renewables replacing the worst coal plants is already happening. What comes next is deeper system work: transmission corridors, storage scaling, flexible demand, and reliability planning that doesn’t default to fossil backup.

• What does “low-carbon electricity” include?
  Renewables (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, bioenergy) plus nuclear. It excludes coal, oil, and gas.
• Which countries decarbonized fastest since 2010?
  Typically those that combined coal decline with sustained renewables build-out; use OWID’s low-carbon share chart to rank by change.
• Why can renewables rise while coal stays dominant?
  If demand grows faster than clean supply, or if grid constraints force curtailment, fossil generation keeps filling the gap.
• Does a cleaner mix always mean lower total emissions?
  No. Total emissions depend on total generation and wider electrification, but emissions per kWh usually fall with a cleaner mix.
• What role does nuclear play?
  Stable low-carbon output that reduces fossil backup during low wind/solar periods.
• Why are grids so important?
  Without transmission and flexibility, new renewables can’t be delivered and used reliably at scale.
• What is curtailment?
  When available renewable electricity is not used because of grid or system constraints.
• Why does coal fall faster in some places?
  Credible policy (retirement schedules, carbon pricing), economics, and grid readiness speed the decline.
• What helps integrate high renewables?
  Storage, interconnections, flexible demand, fast-ramping resources, and market design that rewards flexibility.
• What should policy focus on next?
  Transmission + permitting, predictable clean auctions, flexibility incentives, and reliable coal retirement pathways.

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• Our World in Data — Electricity Mix: https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix
• Our World in Data — Share of Electricity from Low-Carbon Sources: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-low-carbon
• IEA — Global Energy Review 2025 (Electricity): https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/electricity
• Our World in Data — Energy: https://ourworldindata.org/energy
• Our World in Data — CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions
• Our World in Data — Electricity from Fossil Fuels: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-fossil-fuels
• Our World in Data — Electricity from Renewables: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-renewables
• Our World in Data — Electricity from Coal: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-coal
• Our World in Data — Electricity from Nuclear: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-nuclear