Energy Transition

The share of electricity generated from renewable sources — hydro, wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal — is the clearest single metric for how fast a country is decarbonising its power sector. It doesn't capture heating, transport, or industrial heat, but electricity is where most of the transition is happening fastest.

The default selection puts Norway alongside Germany, China, Brazil, and the US to show the range: Norway has been near-100% (mostly hydro) for decades, while Germany's visible "Energiewende" rise is recent and policy-driven. Brazil's high baseline comes from its vast hydroelectric capacity; China's steep rise from 2010 onward reflects the world's largest solar and wind build-out.

Renewable share of electricity over time

The global average has been rising sharply since around 2010 — almost entirely driven by solar and wind, whose costs fell by 90% in a decade. Countries without strong hydro resources show the steepest recent gradients.

Snapshot — most recent year

Current standing. A country at 20% today would need to roughly quintuple its clean generation to fully decarbonise — the bar shows how far each one still has to travel.

All countries ranked

Source: Ember and other sources via Our World in Data. "Renewables" includes hydro, wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal — it does not include nuclear.