Fossil Fuels Rise in Europe and U.S. Despite Soaring Clean Energy
Power generation from clean energy rose globally in the first half of the year, led by the renewables champion China, while power output from fossil fuels remained flat from a year earlier, due to rising gas and coal use in Europe and surging coal generation in the United States.
China’s clean energy generation jumped by 14% to a new record-high between January and June, according to data by clean energy think tank Ember, cited by Reuters’ global energy transition columnist Gavin Maguire.
Power output from coal and natural gas fell by 2% each, also due to some weakness in industrial activity.
While China continues to boost renewable power installations and generation to record highs, the developed economies, Europe and the United States, saw higher electricity output from fossil fuels as wind generation faltered in Europe and coal soared in America, being a cheaper source compared to rising natural gas prices.
As U.S. natural gas prices were significantly higher in the first half of the year, compared to the multi-year lows from early 2024, U.S. power generation from gas-fired power plants declined by 4%. But coal consumption in the power sector jumped by 17% to the highest share of coal in the electricity mix since the first half of 2022, according to the data.
In Europe, utilities across the European Union boosted electricity output from gas and coal plants by 13% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier—the biggest annual increase for January to June since 2017.
Gas-fired power plants saw generation jump by 19% to the highest level in three years. Coal-fired electricity output increased by 2% to the highest in two years, data compiled by Reuters’ Maguire showed earlier this month.
At the same time, wind power generation slumped by 9%, the steepest drop on record, due to low wind speeds.
The slump in renewable energy output, especially wind power, this winter and early spring contributed to the higher fossil fuel power generation, highlighting the EU’s challenge in increasingly relying on renewable power sources.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
