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Hydroelectricity
Hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy today, but that could change soon
Hydro is currently the third largest source of power generation worldwide after coal and natural gas. In 2024, it generated around 4 500 terawatt-hours of electricity, or 14% of the global total.
More than 150 gigawatts (GW) of new hydro capacity is set to come online by the end of the decade, mostly in emerging and developing economies. As a result, electricity generation from hydropower is expected to increase by 7% between 2025 and 2030. However, its share in global electricity generation is poised to…
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Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
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Wind
Wind has significant potential to boost growth in global renewable capacity
Electricity generation from renewables is expected to increase by 60% through 2030 – rising from 9 900 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024 to 16 200 TWh by the end of the decade. Wind accounts for almost a third of growth, second only to solar PV, which accounts for 60%.
Although wind power continues to face supply chain issues, rising costs and permitting delays today, global capacity is still expected to nearly double to over 2 000 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 as both advanced and developing economies tackle these barriers.
Around…
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Electricity Mid-Year Update 2025 Emissions: Power generation CO2 emissions are plateauing
Global emissions from electricity generation rose by 1.2% in 2024, following an increase of 1.6% in 2023. Last year was even hotter than in 2023 – making it the warmest year on record – with the heat waves boosting electricity demand for cooling. Nonetheless, growth in power sector emissions showed signs of slowing down as rapid deployment of renewables constrained increases in fossil-fired generation. As this trend continues, we expect 2025 emissions to plateau and remain relatively unchanged. In 2026, we forecast a slight decline of less than 1%, as the increase in low-emissions generation depresses fossil-fired…
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Global Energy and Climate Model Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE)
…to set record highs.Progress in deploying low-emissions technologies and increasing energy efficiency has been very rapid in some cases but is uneven across sectors and countries.The context in which governments and energy companies are operating remains complex and challenging, marked by features such as increasing geopolitical fragmentation, high government debt burdens, and rising levels of concern about energy security and affordability after the global energy crisis.With these in mind, we have revisited several aspects of the design of the NZE Scenario in 2025, while maintaining the end point of net zero energy-related CO2 emissions by 2050…
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Electricity 2026 Emissions
…growth in power sector emissions is showing marked signs of slowing down as fossil-fired generation is constrained by the rapid deployment of renewables and rising nuclear power generation. As this trend continues, we forecast global emissions from power generation to plateau over our 2026-2030 outlook period due to significant increases in clean energy sources, despite electricity demand growth of an average 3.6% annually – a sharp acceleration from the 2.8% pace of the past decade. Economic shocks and deviations from normal weather conditions, such as intense heat waves, cold spells or low water availability for hydropower generation…
- Executive summary
- Demand
- Supply
- Grids
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+ 4 pages
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Breakthrough Agenda Report 2025 Power
…NDCs), in addition to continued support for the COP 28 Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge.At the G20 Summit in Brazil in 2024, more than a dozen countries launched the Global Clean Power Alliance (GCPA) to speed up the deployment of low-emissions power generation. The GCPA Finance Mission was launched to close the financing gap in emerging markets and, in the lead-up to COP 30, the GCPA aims to define how high-quality investment planning can facilitate greater private sector investment.At COP 28, 200 countries made a landmark pledge to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, and over…
- Executive summary
- Power
- Hydrogen
- Road transport
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+ 4 pages
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Germany 2025 Executive summary
Germany is at an important inflection point in its energy transition. As one era of its energy history draws to a close, another is coming clearly into view – the move away from nuclear, coal and Russian natural gas contrasted by the transition towards renewables, low-emissions hydrogen, heat pumps and electric vehicles (EVs). While the world has been buffeted by geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges in recent years, Germany has worked hard to accelerate its clean energy transition. This report seeks to provide Germany with timely advice on how it can progress towards its energy and climate goals, including in three…
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Scaling Up Transition Finance Sectoral insights
…transition finance can support interim steps towards reaching near-zero emissions solutions.Critical minerals: As these are the material backbone of energy supply chains, scaling mining and refining is crucial to meeting increasing demand driven by energy applications such as electric vehicles, battery storage, renewables and grid networks. At the same time, the extraction and processing of minerals may have adverse impacts that require safeguards addressing not only greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also, among others, high water use, land degradation and biodiversity loss. Transition finance can unlock high-impact projects that lower emissions and avoid or mitigate other impacts…
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State of Energy Policy 2026 Government energy spending
…allocation to the Low Carbon Contracts Company, managing the contract-for-difference in the country, with USD 56 billion in 2025 alone.Since 2015, government spending in the buildings sector has grown sixfold to reach USD 56 billion in 2025, largely directed towards energy efficiency retrofits and space heating electrification. Key programmes include Italy’s Superbonus (USD 24 billion since 2021), the United States’ tax credits for residential energy efficiency property (USD 39 billion since 2015), Germany’s building efficiency and renewable energy programme (USD 56 billion since 2021) and China’s trade-in programme for appliances (USD 12.9 billion in 2025). Support for low-emissions passenger cars increased…
