Solar accounted for more new electricity capacity than all other sources combined in 2025, the IEA confirmed. The energy transition is happening faster than any policy model predicted.
Solar power crossed a threshold in 2025 that the International Energy Agency once projected for the early 2030s: it accounted for more new electricity-generating capacity globally than all other energy sources — coal, gas, nuclear, wind, and hydro — combined. The IEA's Electricity 2026 report, published in late February, called it "the clearest evidence yet that the energy transition is happening faster than policy is keeping up with." The headline number is striking, but the reasons behind it are more surprising than most coverage suggests.
The cost collapse is the story that the transition numbers rest on. Solar panel costs have fallen 99% since 1976, and in 2025, the levelized cost of new utility-scale solar installations globally averaged $29 per megawatt-hour — below the operating cost of existing coal plants in most of the world, not just the construction cost of new ones. That reversal means solar is no longer a policy-subsidized alternative; it is the default economic choice for new electricity capacity in countries spanning the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Climate · Solar · Environment
The IEA's numbers tell a specific story. In 2025, solar additions totaled 593 gigawatts worldwide — a 28% increase over 2024 and roughly equal to the total electricity-generating capacity of the United States in 2005. China installed 277 GW by itself, a figure that would have been the world record for any single country in any energy category as recently as 2021. India and the European Union collectively added another 140 GW. The US added 68 GW, the third consecutive record year according to the American Clean Power Association.
“In 2025, solar additions totaled 593 gigawatts worldwide — a 28% increase over 2024 and roughly equal to the total electricity-generating capacity of the United States in 2005.”
Wind power, battery storage, and grid-scale hydrogen are expanding alongside solar, addressing the intermittency challenge that critics have long cited as the central barrier to renewable-dominant electricity grids. Battery storage deployments globally doubled in 2025 to 280 GWh installed, according to Wood Mackenzie — a research and consultancy firm that tracks energy markets. Grid operators in California, Texas, and across Western Europe ran their grids for extended stretches on 90%+ renewable power in 2025, managing supply variation through storage and interconnection rather than fossil fuel backup.
Key Takeaways
→Climate: Yes.
→Solar: Yes.
→Environment: Yes.
→Renewable Energy: Yes.
On the natural world side, global forest coverage increased for the second consecutive year in 2025, a turnaround that would have seemed implausible a decade ago. Amazon deforestation fell 89% from its peak level in 2021 under Brazil's previous administration, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which monitors satellite imagery year-round. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration reversed the deforestation policies of his predecessor within months of taking office in January 2023, and the effect on canopy loss has been quantifiable and sustained.
Climate · Solar · Environment
Ocean health remains the clearest area of unresolved concern. Coral bleaching events are more frequent and severe than at any point in recorded history — the Great Barrier Reef experienced its fifth mass bleaching event in eight years in early 2025, according to Australia's Institute of Marine Science. Microplastic pollution has been detected in 100% of ocean water samples taken at depth in a 2025 study published in Nature by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Marine protected areas are expanding — covering 8.4% of the global ocean as of January 2026, up from 3.4% in 2015 — but the gap between protected area coverage and ecological recovery timescales remains large.
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The honest picture of climate progress in 2026 is neither the collapse scenario of a decade ago nor a resolution. The energy transition's pace has genuinely outrun the most optimistic modeling. The land-use trend has reversed in important regions. The ocean damage from decades of emissions is playing out on its own schedule regardless of current mitigation efforts. These are not contradictory data points — they reflect the difference between inputs and outcomes, between what humanity is doing to the climate system and what the climate system is already doing in response.
What has changed unambiguously is the economics. The cost curves that once required policy support to make clean energy viable have moved to the point where they are self-reinforcing. Utilities, investors, and governments that bet on clean energy five years ago are seeing returns. Those still planning to build new unabated fossil fuel infrastructure face stranded-asset risk that was theoretical in 2020 and is now being repriced into bond markets and insurance premiums across the sector.
The next key test is whether grid infrastructure — transmission lines, storage, and interconnection — can scale as fast as generation capacity. The IEA projects that $700 billion in annual grid investment is needed through 2030 to absorb current clean energy deployment rates. In 2025, actual grid investment ran at roughly $400 billion globally. That gap, not the cost of solar panels, is now the binding constraint on how fast the transition can run.
Is solar energy the cheapest source of electricity in 2026?
Yes. The levelized cost of new utility-scale solar averaged $29 per megawatt-hour globally in 2025, according to the IEA — below the operating cost of existing coal plants in most of the world. Solar installation costs have fallen 99% since 1976.
How much new solar capacity was added globally in 2025?
593 gigawatts of new solar capacity was installed globally in 2025, a 28% increase over 2024, according to the IEA's Electricity 2026 report. China led with 277 GW; the US added 68 GW, its third consecutive record year.
Is Amazon deforestation decreasing?
Yes. Amazon deforestation fell 89% from its 2021 peak under Brazil's President Lula, according to satellite monitoring by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Global forest coverage increased for the second consecutive year in 2025.
What is the biggest obstacle to the clean energy transition?
Grid infrastructure. The IEA estimates $700 billion in annual grid investment is needed through 2030 to absorb current clean energy deployment. Actual spending in 2025 was around $400 billion globally — the transmission and storage gap, not panel or turbine costs, is now the main constraint.
Is coral reef bleaching getting worse in 2026?
Yes. The Great Barrier Reef experienced its fifth mass bleaching event in eight years in early 2025, according to Australia's Institute of Marine Science. Ocean warming from accumulated emissions is driving bleaching regardless of current emissions reductions.
