Category: Energy

Coal's share of world electricity has fallen, but its output has grown: 2000 to 2025

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Two line charts of world coal electricity, 2000 to 2025. Left: coal's share of world electricity rises from 38.0 percent in 2000 to a peak of 40.8 percent in 2007, then falls to 33.1 percent in 2025. Right: coal generation rises from 5,809 terawatt hours in 2000 to 10,540 in 2024 and 10,490 in 2025.

Coal supplied 33.1% of the world's electricity in 2025, down from a peak of 40.8% in 2007. Yet the world generated 81% more electricity from coal in 2025 than in 2000 (10,490 against 5,809 terawatt hours), because total electricity generation more than doubled. This article uses Ember's open electricity data to show how both things are true, and where coal power has risen and fallen.

Coal is still the largest single source of electricity, but the mix has shifted. Wind and solar went from almost nothing to about a sixth of the total, while nuclear and oil-based generation lost share.

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