2025: The Year Renewables Finally Beat Coal
2025: The Year Renewables Finally Beat Coal
Yale E360 just published a summary of 2025’s clean energy milestones, and the numbers are remarkable.
The Headline
For the first time in history, wind and solar supplied more power globally than coal.
Read that again. Wind and solar beat coal.
This isn’t a projection. It’s not a goal. It happened.
The Numbers That Matter
Here’s what else changed in 2025:
Energy Storage Got Cheaper Batteries are now 90% cheaper than they were a decade ago. This solves the biggest challenge with renewables: storing power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
Electric Vehicles Hit Critical Mass Plug-in cars accounted for more than 25% of new car sales globally. In China alone, EVs made up over half of all new cars sold.
Renewables Met All New Demand Every bit of new power demand was met by wind and solar. Not some of it. All of it.
Economics Changed Wind and solar are now cheaper than coal and natural gas. The economics shifted, and the rest followed.
Why This Matters
This isn’t just about clean energy. It’s about momentum.
The journal Science named the rapid growth of clean energy its 2025 Breakthrough of the Year. When one of the world’s most prestigious scientific publications calls something a breakthrough, it’s worth paying attention.
These milestones happened quietly. No dramatic announcements. No global celebration. Just steady, compounding progress.
And they happened despite political resistance in places like the U.S., where federal support for clean energy was slashed during the Trump administration.
The transition isn’t waiting for permission anymore. It’s happening because it makes economic sense.
Read the Full Story
Yale E360’s digest is short, well-researched, and packed with context I didn’t cover here.
If you care about climate, energy, or just understanding what’s actually happening in the world, read it.
Sometimes the most important shifts happen while we’re looking elsewhere.
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