57% of global electricity is generated from Fossil in 2025/2026

From July 2025 to June 2026, fossil electricity generation worldwide totaled about 17,660 TWh, supplying nearly 57% of global electricity consumption of 31,230 TWh. That was roughly 1,335 TWh more than in 2016, an increase of about 8%, yet its share fell from 65% to 57%—a drop of 8.6 percentage points. This divergence matters: other electricity sources have gained ground, but fossil generation has still increased in absolute terms. Reducing fossil dependence therefore requires clean electricity growth fast enough both to meet rising demand and to replace existing fossil output.

The People's Republic of China dominates total fossil generation at about 6,150 TWh, more than twice the United States’ roughly 2,580 TWh, with India supplying another 1,460 TWh. The People's Republic of China and India also recorded the largest five-year increases in absolute output, adding around 790 TWh and 295 TWh respectively; Iraq stood out with an increase of nearly 68 TWh. Dependence and scale are different measures: Oman and Kuwait, alongside much smaller electricity systems such as Timor-Leste, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, generated all their electricity from fossil sources. Bahrain led generation per person at almost 23,000 kWh, followed by Qatar at about 19,400 kWh and Kuwait at 16,600 kWh, far above the global average of around 2,100 kWh. Among US states, Texas produced about 357 TWh of fossil electricity, considerably more than Florida or Pennsylvania, although Florida had the highest fossil share of these three at nearly three-quarters.

Fossil electricity’s IPCC lifecycle carbon intensity of 490–820 gCO2eq/kWh underscores its climate disadvantage compared with wind at 11 gCO2eq/kWh, nuclear at 12 gCO2eq/kWh, hydro at 24 gCO2eq/kWh, geothermal at 38 gCO2eq/kWh and solar at 45 gCO2eq/kWh. Fossil combustion also produces air pollutants that harm human health. Over the past five years, Iran recorded the largest reduction in fossil generation, about 202 TWh, followed by Japan at 88 TWh; Germany, Turkey and United Kingdom reduced output by roughly 62 TWh, 46 TWh and 42 TWh respectively. These figures show substantial reductions are possible, although they do not alone explain what drove each decline. Expanding clean electricity from nuclear, solar and wind is essential to replace fossil generation while increasing electricity availability for electrification, growing AI demand and other needs.