Key points
- Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, installed renewable electricity capacity has increased 2.4 times globally, shifting the energy sources that underpin daily electricity use away from fossil fuels.
- Between 2015 and now, 20 countries have increased their share of renewables in electricity consumption by 20 percentage points or more.Â
- In the Netherlands, wind and solar now power half of the nation’s electricity needs, compared to 11% a decade ago. In Chile, renewable energy has surged from supplying less than half of electricity in 2015 to powering seven out of 10 homes and businesses today.Â
- Increases in the share of renewables in electricity consumption are also paired with improved energy security and access. In island nations like the Cook Islands, Kiribati and Martinique, solar installations have reduced reliance on fossil fuel imports. In Liberia, renewables accounted for 70% of new electricity capacity and helped double access to electricity over the past decade.
Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, renewable energy has experienced significant global expansion. Total installed electricity capacity of renewables has increased 2.4 times, from 1,851 gigawatts (GW) in 2015 to 4,448 GW in 2024. Electricity generated from renewables has risen by over 78% globally since 2015, reaching 9,837 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024.
However, the impact of renewable energy growth on everyday life can often seem distant. Focusing on the share of renewables in electricity consumption makes this tangible, as it shows how much of the power running through homes, businesses, hospitals and industries each day – from switching on lights to powering devices and appliances – actually comes from renewables.1The share of renewables in electricity is likely not exactly the same for industrial, commercial and household use, but these figures can give us an indication of the changes happening in each country. For example, in Germany, where this data is available, the share of renewable energy in household electricity consumption was estimated at 54% in 2023, compared to 52.9% in gross electricity consumption. Different factors, such as the presence of large industries or high uptake of household solar PV may cause this to vary in different countries.Â
In the past decade, 20 countries have increased their share of renewables in electricity use by 20 percentage points or more (see Figure 1).2For countries outside of the EU, data from Ember on the share of renewable energy in electricity generation was used as a proxy for the share of renewable energy in electricity consumption by excluding all countries that imported more than 1% of their electricity. As domestic generation does not perfectly match consumption due to transmission losses and renewable curtailment, the renewable share in generation may differ slightly from that in consumption. Renewable energy includes wind, solar, bioenergy, hydropower, geothermal, tidal and wave generation. We focus on countries with at least a 20 percentage-point increase because it captures meaningful transformation in how electricity is generated and consumed, as opposed to relative growth rates that can be misleading when starting from very low baseline levels.Â
Between 2015 and today, there has been a dramatic shift in the average share of renewable electricity used across the 20 countries. We also expect our findings to be conservative. Figures for 2022, 2023 or 2024 have been used depending on the latest available country data – now, with two or three additional years of growth, higher renewable shares of electricity are likely to have been achieved.
Of the 20 countries, nine shifted at least one-quarter (25%) of their total electricity consumption from fossil fuels to renewables, while 12 now get more than 50% of their electricity from renewable sources. For people living in these countries, the shift is tangible:
- In the Netherlands, renewable energy grew more than fourfold from 11% of electricity consumption in 2015 to 50% today – a 39 percentage-point increase. Wind and solar now power nearly every other appliance and light across the country, compared to about one in 10 a decade ago.Â
- In Spain, Germany and Finland, renewables now power more than half of appliances, up from only one in three a decade ago.
- Today, wind and solar power the vast majority of Danish homes and businesses. About half of electricity was already generated from renewable sources in 2015, with that growing to nearly 4 in 5 kilowatt-hours now.Â
- In Chile, renewable energy has surged from supplying less than half of electricity in 2015 to powering seven out of 10 homes and businesses today.Â
- In Greece, renewables have more than doubled from 22% in 2015 to 48% today. Wind and solar now provide almost half of electricity, compared to powering about one in five homes and businesses a decade ago.
Figure 1
Renewable energy’s share in electricity use jumped 16 percentage points in the EU after Paris
Eight of the countries with over 20 percentage-point increases were in the European Union. All countries across the EU have seen, on average, a 16 percentage-point jump in the share of renewable energy in electricity consumption since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
The Netherlands is the country with the largest increase of renewable energy share in electricity use in this time frame, rising 39 percentage points to reach 50% of total electricity consumption.
In Germany, around a third of the electricity used to power a home in 2015, on average, came from renewable energy sources – this has now jumped to over half. In 2023, 58% of households in Germany opted for a green electricity tariff, up from 19% in 2015. In 2024 alone, Germany installed nearly 20 GW of additional renewable energy capacity, representing a 12% year-on-year increase.
Denmark’s share of renewable energy in electricity use increased from just over half at the time of the Paris Agreement to 79% as of 2023 – a 28 percentage-point jump. Over the same time period, the renewable share of total energy consumption in Denmark – including non-electrified heating and transport – increased by 15 percentage points.
In Albania, the gross amount of electricity consumption from renewable sources has surpassed 100%, reaching 105% in 2023. The country now produces more electricity from renewables than it consumes and is a net exporter. This is also the case for Norway, which reached 117% renewable electricity use in 2023.
Lithuania, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland, alongside Portugal, also showed the highest increase in the share of renewables in primary energy consumption. This covers all energy consumption, not just electricity, including heating, transportation and other uses of fuel. Between 2015 and 2024, the renewable share in primary energy use of these five countries increased by 11 to 16 percentage points. Four other countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Brazil) sourced around half or more of their primary energy consumption from renewables in 2024 – only Iceland and Norway did so in 2015.
Rise in renewable electricity use boosts energy security and access
The highest increase of renewable energy in electricity use was observed in the Cook Islands, which achieved 50% renewable electricity consumption by 2024, up from zero. Like the Cook Islands, solar installations are primarily behind the significant rise in renewable electricity use in the island states of Kiribati and Martinique. The increase in solar, and other renewables like wind, is helping these countries reduce their reliance on fossil fuel imports and enhance their energy security.
Liberia and Jordan have also seen a steep rise in renewable electricity consumption, up from virtually none in 2015. In Liberia, installed electricity generation capacity increased by over five times from 2014, reaching 126 MW in 2024. Renewable energy accounted for 70% of the capacity increase, and brought a 33 percentage-point jump in renewable electricity use. This has enabled access to electricity to double in the last decade.
The share of renewables in Chile jumped 27 percentage points to reach 70% of current electricity consumption. Solar and wind generation in Chile has increased rapidly, becoming the country’s largest source of electricity. In 2016, these sources accounted for only about 7% of national electricity generation, but increased to 34% by 2024. Chile has the highest share of combined solar and wind energy of all Latin American countries.
In Sierra Leone, imports of solar panels have helped boost renewable electricity generation. More than 60,000 panels were imported in 2021 alone, with new installed capacity contributing to a 15% increase in solar electricity generation. The share of renewables in electricity used daily in Sierra Leone is now 95%.
