Wind and solar reach 10% of global electricity in 2021

A newly released analysis shows that for the first time, wind and solar electricity account for 10% of global electricity generated, twice the amount compared to 2015, when the Paris Climate Agreement was signed.

The findings, published by independent energy think tank Ember, also showed that 38% of global electricity came from clean power in 2021. 

“Wind and solar have arrived,” said Dave Jones, Global lead of Ember. “Even as coal and power emissions hit another all-time high, there are clear signs that the global electricity transition is well underway.”

In order to meet global heating targets of 1.5 degrees, wind and solar need to keep high compound growth rates of 20% for the next eight years, but Ember said that “this is now eminently possible”.

Wind and solar are the cheapest source of electricity on a levelised basis, and countries around the world have increasing experience in harnessing natural power.

This optimistic news follows a year of increasingly ambitious global climate policies, as well as concerning data. In February the UN’s 2022 IPCC report found that 3.45 billion people are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, one in three people around the world are currently exposed to deadly heat stress and that one billion people are going to live in a flood-prone coastal zone by 2050.

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Governments around the world have been responding to these mounting threats: This week Germany said it would be investing €4 billion in "natural climate protection", and Canada set out a C$9.1 billion (€6.55 billion) plan to meet its 2030 climate change targets.

At COP26 in November, 137 countries from around the world committed to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation” by 2030, and signed the Glasgow Climate Pact and Paris Rulebook – agreements which detailed a set of targets to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating.

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However, a BloombergNEF (BNEF) analysis released on Tuesday, said that climate policies of G-20 economies – which account for approximately 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions – have not been implemented in any real way. The analysis said that despite comprehensive COP26 commitments, “Meaningful domestic efforts to achieve CO2 reductions remain elusive”.

BNEF head of policy Victoria Cuming said, “Talk is cheap – none of the G-20 countries has implemented sufficient concrete incentives and regulations to achieve what’s been promised.”

While the Ember report suggests real headway has been made in green power there is still much room for progress: despite this year’s record rise in wind and solar power generation, the renewable energy sources only covered 29% of the global rise in electricity demand in 2021.

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