The silent revolution: How renewable energies are transforming electricity production worldwide

The turning point that no one can stop anymore

The global energy sector is experiencing a historic moment whose significance can hardly be overstated. In the first half of 2025, a paradigm shift occurred that energy experts had predicted for decades: For the first time in history, renewable energy sources generated more electricity worldwide than coal, thus replacing the most important energy source of industrialization. This development is all the more remarkable as it coincided with a rapid increase in global electricity consumption, driven by the expansion of artificial intelligence, data centers, and the progressive electrification of all areas of life.

Even more significant, however, is a second, almost sensational piece of news: In China and India, the two most populous countries on Earth, which together were responsible for nearly two-thirds of global emissions growth in recent years, carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation are now declining. This marks a fundamental turning point, as these two nations alone represent over a third of the world's population and were long considered the greatest challenge to achieving global climate goals.

The figures speak for themselves: In the first half of 2025, global electricity consumption was approximately 369 terawatt-hours higher than in the same period of the previous year. At the same time, solar and wind power combined produced an additional 403 terawatt-hours of energy, meaning that the growth of renewable energies not only met but exceeded the increased demand. This surplus led to a slight decrease in global coal and gas consumption and a minimal reduction in global emissions from electricity generation of 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, despite significantly higher demand.

This article analyzes the multifaceted dimensions of this energy revolution. It examines the historical roots, technological and economic mechanisms, current applications, and future developments of this transformation. Critical aspects such as infrastructure challenges, geopolitical implications, and social controversies are also explored to provide a comprehensive picture of the current energy transition.

From windmills to gigawatt capacities: The chronological development of renewable energies

The use of renewable energy sources is by no means a 21st-century invention. Humankind has been harnessing wind and water as energy carriers for centuries. As early as 200 BC, the first windmills were used in Persia to grind grain and pump water. Waterwheels powered mechanical processes in the Roman Empire and formed the backbone of pre-industrial energy systems for centuries.

The decisive conceptual breakthrough came in the 19th century. In 1839, the French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect, the conversion of light into electrical energy, thus laying the foundation for modern solar power. In the 1860s, the French inventor Auguste Mouchot constructed the first solar-powered steam engine, demonstrating the practical potential of solar energy. The year 1882 marked another milestone: On the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, the world's first hydroelectric power station, generating electricity through the power of flowing water, was put into operation.

The 20th century brought further important developments. In 1905, Albert Einstein perfected the theory of the photoelectric effect and received the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work in 1921. In 1954, researchers at Bell Laboratories created the first modern solar cell while working on silicon semiconductors. Just four years later, in 1958, the American satellite Vanguard I used solar energy as a power source in space for the first time, demonstrating the reliability of photovoltaic technology under extreme conditions.

However, it was the oil crises of the 1970s that gave renewable energies a new strategic importance. The dramatic rise in oil prices and the political uncertainty surrounding fossil fuels motivated governments worldwide to explore alternative energy sources. In the United States, NASA initiated a comprehensive program between 1974 and 1982 to develop wind turbines with capacities ranging from 200 kilowatts to 3.2 megawatts. The year 1978 marked a political turning point: The US Congress passed the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, which for the first time created systematic incentives for renewable energy producers.

In the 1980s and 1990s, development accelerated considerably. By 1985, California had reached an installed wind power capacity of over 1,000 megawatts, which was more than half of the world's capacity at the time. Commercial thin-film photovoltaics entered the market in 1986. The year 1996 brought a major technological breakthrough in the SOLAR project in the Mojave Desert: Researchers developed a combination of sodium and potassium nitrate for energy storage that made it possible to keep solar energy available for up to three hours after sunset.

The years after 2000 were characterized by exponential growth. Between 2010 and 2016, the cost of solar power fell by 69 percent, from $0.36 to $0.11 per kilowatt-hour. The cost of onshore wind power fell by similar amounts during the same period due to falling turbine prices and improved technology. These cost reductions were primarily attributable to technological learning curves: photovoltaic modules exhibited learning rates of 18 to 22 percent, meaning that costs decreased by that percentage for every doubling of cumulative production.

The year 2024 set a historic record: 585 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity were installed worldwide, representing over 90 percent of all newly added electricity generation capacity and an annual growth rate of 15.1 percent. China alone added 357 gigawatts, accounting for nearly 60 percent of global new installations. This rapid expansion continued in 2025: In the first six months alone, 380 gigawatts of new solar capacity were installed globally, an increase of 64 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Historical developments thus reveal a clear trend: What began over 180 years ago as a scientific curiosity has evolved into an industrial revolution that is now fundamentally transforming the global energy system. The pace of this transformation is accelerating continuously, driven by technological advancements, falling costs, and increasing political support.

The technological and economic mechanisms of the renewable energy revolution

The unprecedented expansion of renewable energies is based on a complex interplay of technological innovations, economic mechanisms, and political frameworks. Understanding these fundamentals is essential to assessing the scope of current developments.

The fundamental technological advantage of renewable energies lies in their modularity and scalability. Unlike conventional power plants, which require massive upfront investments and long construction times, solar and wind power plants can be implemented on a variety of scales. A single solar panel on a rooftop operates on the same principle as a gigawatt-sized solar park in the desert. This flexibility enables both decentralized and centralized energy production and allows for granular adaptation to local needs.

The economic dynamics are largely determined by the concept of the learning curve, also known as Wright's Law. This states that the cost of a technology decreases by a constant percentage with each doubling of cumulative production. For photovoltaics, this learning rate is approximately 18 to 22 percent, and for wind energy, around 15 percent. This continuous cost reduction has led to solar energy becoming 75 percent cheaper since 2014, while the cost of onshore wind energy has fallen by 62 percent.

By 2023, 81 percent of newly installed renewable energy capacity was already more cost-efficient than fossil fuel alternatives. The cost of solar power is now around US$0.04 per kilowatt-hour, while onshore wind power is around US$0.03. By comparison, new coal or gas-fired power plants can hardly compete at these prices, even without considering external costs such as climate damage or air pollution.

Another crucial factor is the drastic improvement in energy efficiency. Modern wind turbines utilize larger hub heights and rotor areas, enabling them to generate significantly more electricity from the same wind conditions than models from ten years ago. In Denmark, the average capacity factor of new wind farms doubled over a period of 17 years, in Brazil it increased by 83 percent, in the USA by 46 percent, and in Germany by 41 percent.

The manufacturing costs for solar modules have also fallen dramatically. While silicon solar cells require temperatures exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius for purification and crystallization, novel perovskite solar cells can be produced at temperatures below 150 degrees Celsius, resulting in energy savings of approximately 90 percent. Furthermore, the raw materials for perovskite cells are 50 to 75 percent cheaper than silicon. This technology has achieved an efficiency leap from 3.8 percent to over 25 percent in just over ten years, with tandem cells made of perovskite and silicon already reaching efficiencies of over 29 percent.

Financing structures also play a key role. Global investments in clean energy technologies exceeded US$2 trillion for the first time in 2024, an increase of 11 percent compared to the previous year. Solar energy alone accounted for approximately US$670 billion, representing about half of all cleantech investments. These investments surpassed spending on fossil fuel exploration and production for the first time in 2025.

Another key technological component is energy storage. The global capacity of battery storage systems is growing rapidly and is projected to increase by 35 percent to 94 gigawatts by 2025. China surpassed the 100-gigawatt mark for the first time in mid-2025, an increase of 110 percent compared to the previous year. Germany achieved a storage capacity of 22.1 gigawatt-hours during the same period. These storage technologies are essential for balancing the volatility of renewable energy sources and ensuring a stable electricity supply.

Grid integration is being revolutionized by intelligent virtual power plants. These aggregate decentralized energy resources such as solar panels, battery storage, and electric vehicles into a networked system that can operate like a conventional large-scale power plant. Sophisticated software and algorithms enable virtual power plants to balance supply and demand in real time, ensure grid stability, and simultaneously maximize the integration of renewable energies.

Technological advances are amplified by policy frameworks. The global consensus adopted at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in 2023 envisages a tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030, from approximately 3,500 gigawatts at the end of 2022 to at least 11,000 gigawatts. This ambitious target requires average annual growth rates of 16.6 percent, necessitating a massive acceleration of investment and expansion.

Taken together, these technological and economic mechanisms form a self-reinforcing system: falling costs lead to rising demand, which in turn enables higher production volumes, resulting in further cost reductions. This virtual cycle has transformed renewable energies from a niche technology into the dominant force in the global energy transition.

Global transformation in the here and now: The current state of the energy transition

The current situation of the global energy transition is characterized by a number of remarkable developments that are accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and, in some cases, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations.

The most important milestone of 2025 is undoubtedly the historic replacement of coal as the world's most important energy source for electricity generation. In the first half of 2025, renewable energies generated 5,067 terawatt-hours of electricity, while coal supplied only 4,896 terawatt-hours. This corresponds to a share of 34.3 percent for renewable energies compared to 33.1 percent for coal in global electricity generation. This transition marks an epochal turning point in the 200-year history of industrialization, in which coal has always been the dominant energy source.

The developments in China and India are particularly noteworthy. China, the world's largest electricity consumer, reduced its fossil fuel-based power generation by 2 percent in the first half of 2025, while solar and wind power production increased by 43 and 16 percent, respectively. China's emissions from power generation fell by 46 million tons of carbon dioxide. Despite a 3.4 percent increase in total electricity generation, Chinese coal-fired power generation declined by 3.3 percent.

India saw an even more dramatic development. Emissions from the electricity sector fell by 1 percent in the first half of 2025, marking only the second decline in nearly half a century. This is all the more remarkable given India's continued strong population and economic growth. Clean energy capacity growth reached a record high of 25.1 gigawatts, a 69 percent increase year-on-year. This newly installed capacity is expected to generate nearly 50 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, almost enough to meet average demand growth.

However, the regional distribution also reveals some downsides. While China, India, and other emerging economies are leading the clean energy transition, the United States and the European Union have seen an increase in fossil fuel-based electricity generation. In the US, demand growth outpaced the expansion of renewable energies, leading to increased use of fossil fuels. In the EU, lower wind and hydropower production, along with reduced bioenergy generation, resulted in increased use of gas and, to a lesser extent, coal.

Solar energy is becoming the absolute driver of growth. In the first six months of 2025, global solar power generation grew by 31 percent, contributing 83 percent to overall demand growth with an additional 306 terawatt-hours of production. This is roughly equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed by a country like Italy in an entire year. Global installed photovoltaic capacity doubled from 1 terawatt in 2022 to 2 terawatts in 2024 – a feat that previously took the industry four decades to achieve in just two years.

Wind energy also recorded solid growth, increasing by 7.7 percent and adding 97 terawatt-hours. China continues to dominate global development in this sector, accounting for 55 percent of global solar growth and 82 percent of wind energy growth in 2025.

Floating offshore wind energy represents a particularly innovative development, enabling the installation of wind turbines in deeper waters where wind resources are stronger and more consistent. This technology is still in an early stage of development but holds enormous potential for coastal countries with deep seabeds, where conventional fixed-anchor offshore installations are not feasible.

The economic viability of renewable energies has fundamentally improved. Solar energy is now the cheapest available source of electricity in many regions. Tenders in Abu Dhabi, Chile, Dubai, and Mexico have achieved prices as low as US$0.04 per kilowatt-hour, with prices continuing to fall. Onshore wind energy reaches costs of up to US$0.03 per kilowatt-hour in areas with excellent wind conditions.

The employment effects are substantial. At least 16.2 million people worldwide now work in the renewable energy sector, a steady increase from 7.3 million in 2012. In the United States alone, over 3.5 million people are employed in this sector, and employment is growing more than twice as fast as the general labor market. Renewable energy jobs account for over 84 percent of all new jobs in power generation.

Despite this impressive progress, a significant gap remains between current developments and the measures necessary to achieve the 1.5-degree target. To reach the tripling of renewable energy capacity by 2030 agreed upon at COP28, an average annual growth rate of 16.6 percent would be required. The current growth rate of 15.1 percent falls just short. Furthermore, the full integration of renewable energies necessitates massive investments in grid infrastructure and storage technologies, which have not yet been made to a sufficient extent.

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Pioneers of Transformation: Concrete Examples from Practice

The abstract figures and trends of the global energy transition manifest themselves in numerous concrete projects and initiatives that make the potential and challenges of the transformation tangible.

A prime example is the Balearic island of Mallorca's commitment to green hydrogen. The Spanish infrastructure company Acciona operates a plant there that produces over 300 tons of green hydrogen annually from photovoltaic energy. This hydrogen serves as fuel for public and commercial bus fleets and as auxiliary power for ferries and port operations. The project thus prevents the emission of 16,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. This example illustrates the diverse applications of green hydrogen, which serves as an energy carrier, raw material, and storage medium, and is completely emission-free, since its conversion back into energy produces only water as a byproduct.

China is demonstrating the scalability of renewable energy in an unprecedented way. In 2024 alone, the country installed 357 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity, more than all other countries combined. These gigantic solar parks and wind farms are increasingly being combined with massive battery storage systems. One notable project is the 103.5-megawatt battery storage facility in Germany, operated by Eco Stor, with a capacity of 238 megawatt-hours. Commissioned in the first half of 2025, it represented approximately one-third of the newly added large-scale battery storage capacity during that period.

The Mission 300 initiative for Africa demonstrates how renewable energy can unlock development opportunities. This ambitious project, launched at a conference in Dar es Salaam in January 2025, aims to provide 300 million people in Africa with access to electricity by 2030. The African Development Bank pledged US$18.2 billion, while the World Bank committed up to US$40 billion, with half of these funds earmarked for renewable energy projects. Twelve countries, including Malawi, Nigeria, and Zambia, launched national energy pacts that rely on decentralized, solar-powered mini-grids for remote areas. This demonstrates how the modularity of renewable energy offers particular advantages in regions lacking developed grid infrastructure.

Despite its challenging political situation, Afghanistan demonstrates how solar energy can bridge critical supply gaps. Decades of conflict have made the country one of the world's most energy-insecure nations, with a power demand of 4.85 gigawatts compared to domestic generation of only 0.6 gigawatts. Average energy consumption is a mere 700 kilowatt-hours per capita per year, thirty times below the global average. Decentralized solar systems for health and educational facilities help maintain vital services even during frequent power outages.

Virtual power plants are an innovative concept that has already been successfully implemented in several countries. In Germany, platforms like Lumenaza aggregate thousands of decentralized energy systems into a digitally controlled power plant. These systems combine photovoltaic systems, battery storage, and electric vehicles, optimizing their use through intelligent algorithms. Participants receive financial compensation for their flexibility, while the system contributes to grid stability and facilitates the integration of volatile renewable energy sources.

The development of perovskite solar cells illustrates the rapid pace of innovation in the industry. Just 18 months after the project began, the European PEARL consortium demonstrated the production of flexible perovskite solar cells using a roll-to-roll process. Various research institutes achieved efficiencies of over 21 percent on flexible substrates. This technology could revolutionize the solar industry, as it can be produced significantly more cost-effectively than conventional silicon cells and can also be applied to flexible surfaces, enabling entirely new applications.

In the US, some utilities are delaying planned coal-fired power plant closures in the face of rapidly increasing electricity demand, particularly from data centers. At the same time, the example of the Four Corners coal-fired power plant in New Mexico illustrates the complexity of the energy transition: the 1,500-megawatt plant, originally slated for closure in 2031, will now continue operating until 2038, as the operator, Arizona Public Service, forecasts a 60 percent increase in peak demand by then. Such developments demonstrate that the energy transition is not a linear process, but rather one shaped by local conditions and competing priorities.

These examples illustrate the enormous breadth of the energy transition: from large-scale projects in industrialized nations to development initiatives in Africa and innovative storage and grid solutions. They also demonstrate, however, that the transformation is highly context-dependent and requires tailored solutions for different geographical, economic, and social conditions.

Complexity and controversies: A critical examination of challenges

Despite the impressive successes of renewable energies, numerous challenges, controversies and unresolved problems exist that require a differentiated consideration.

The most fundamental technical challenge is intermittency, meaning the weather-related fluctuation of energy production. Solar and wind energy are inherently not continuously available. This volatility presents grid operators with significant planning and operational problems. The German phenomenon of "Dunkelflaute" (dark doldrums) vividly illustrates this: In November 2024, overcast skies and calm winds prevailed over Central Europe for several days, resulting in minimal electricity generation from millions of solar panels and wind turbines. During this period, renewable energies contributed only about 30 percent to Germany's electricity supply, while fossil fuel power plants and electricity imports covered 70 percent. Such situations occur on average about twice a year and last approximately 48 hours.

The grid infrastructure is proving to be a critical bottleneck. While large, centralized power plants feed electricity into the grid at a few points, renewable energy sources are distributed over large areas. This necessitates a massive expansion of the transmission networks. In Germany, photovoltaic projects with a cumulative capacity of over 60 gigawatts are waiting for grid connections, with waiting times sometimes ranging from 5 to 15 years. Worldwide, over 3,000 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, of which over 1,500 gigawatts are in advanced stages of development, are waiting for grid connections. In the USA, the average waiting time for grid connections has almost doubled since 2015 and now exceeds three years.

The availability of critical minerals presents another significant challenge. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements are essential for batteries, electric motors, and wind turbines. The production of these minerals is highly geographically concentrated: the Democratic Republic of Congo supplies nearly three-quarters of the world's cobalt, China controls three-quarters of processing, and Indonesia produces over 40 percent of the nickel. This concentration creates geopolitical dependencies and supply risks. Studies predict that lithium and cobalt production will need to increase by 500 percent by 2050 just to meet the demand from clean energy technologies. Supply risks for these critical minerals in China will remain in the high-risk zone between 2025 and 2027.

Social acceptance of renewable energy projects is by no means a given. While surveys generally show high levels of support for renewable energy, there is significant local opposition to specific projects. Landowners who lease their land for wind or solar farms are sometimes demonized by project opponents. In South Carolina, law enforcement investigated death threats against county council members who supported the construction of a solar panel factory. Organizations funded by the fossil fuel industry systematically coordinate opposition to renewable energy projects and spread misinformation. The State Policy Network, a network of think tanks with ties to the fossil fuel industry, announced in 2024 that it would work with legislators to prevent the adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

The disposal and recycling of solar panels and wind turbine blades are becoming increasingly problematic. While the technologies themselves operate emission-free, questions of circular economy arise at the end of their life cycle. Rapid expansion means that enormous quantities of discarded components will accumulate in the coming decades, for whose environmentally sound treatment no complete solutions yet exist.

Financing equity between developed and developing countries remains problematic. While wealthy nations are making massive investments, many African and Asian countries lack the capital for the necessary transformation. Sub-Saharan Africa needs approximately US$100 billion annually for renewable energy and grid expansion, but invested only around US$20 billion in 2023. Without drastically increased international climate finance, millions of people will be excluded from the benefits of the renewable energy revolution.

The dependence on Chinese production raises strategic questions. China not only produces the majority of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries, but also controls large parts of the supply chains for critical materials. This dominance creates vulnerabilities for other countries and leads to efforts to build up domestic production capacities, which, however, comes at a higher cost.

The construction of new coal-fired power plants in China and India, despite increasing renewable energy capacity, appears contradictory. China added 5.1 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plant capacity in the first half of 2025. India announced that coal consumption is not expected to peak until 2040. The official justification is that coal is intended to serve as a flexible, supportive resource, not as a primary generator. Critics, however, see this as a delaying tactic for necessary plant closures.

These challenges demonstrate that, despite all the progress made, the energy transition remains a complex undertaking encompassing technical, economic, political, and social dimensions. Successfully addressing these problems will determine whether the impressive growth rates of renewable energies can lead to a complete decarbonization of the energy system.

Future Horizons: Expected Trends and Disruptive Innovations

The future of global energy supply will be characterized by several parallel developments that have the potential to further accelerate and deepen the transformation already underway.

Cost reductions are expected to continue. Analysts anticipate that solar module prices will fall further, particularly once perovskite technology enters mass production. Experts estimate that, after successful scaling, perovskite solar panels could be up to 50 percent cheaper than current silicon panels. Tandem cells made of perovskite and silicon could achieve efficiencies exceeding 33 percent, thus approaching the theoretical limit of silicon solar cells.

Green hydrogen is expected to play a key role in decarbonizing sectors that are difficult to electrify. The International Renewable Energy Agency forecasts that the cost of hydrogen plants could fall by 40 to 80 percent in the long term. Combined with further declines in renewable energy prices, green hydrogen could become economically competitive from 2030 onward. This would enable the decarbonization of steel production, chemical manufacturing, shipping, and aviation—sectors that together account for significant shares of global emissions.

Floating offshore wind farms are on the verge of a breakthrough. This technology enables the harnessing of strong and consistent winds in deep waters, which are inaccessible to conventional, fixed-anchor turbines. Several gigawatt projects are under development or construction in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Australia, the Netherlands, Chile, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The International Energy Agency sees significant potential, particularly when floating wind farms are combined with offshore hydrogen production.

Energy storage technologies are scaling rapidly. BloombergNEF expects annual new installations of battery storage to increase from 94 gigawatts in 2025 to 220 gigawatts in 2035. Total capacity could reach ten times today's levels by 2035, exceeding 617 gigawatt-hours. Longer-term storage technologies such as compressed air energy storage, pumped storage, and potentially green hydrogen will become increasingly important to bridge multi-day periods of low renewable energy generation.

Virtual power plants are becoming an integral part of the energy system. The increasing prevalence of solar panels, battery storage, and electric vehicles creates enormous potential for aggregated flexibility. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning will further improve the optimization of these complex systems. Chile, for example, plans to base its 2025 grid planning on Google's AI-based Tapestry solution, while Southern California Edison is working with NVIDIA on AI-driven grid planning tools.

Global solar capacity is expected to continue growing exponentially. SolarPower Europe forecasts a 10 percent increase in installations to 655 gigawatts in 2025, with low double-digit annual growth rates between 2027 and 2029, potentially reaching 930 gigawatts by 2029. Global installed photovoltaic capacity could thus exceed 5 to 6 terawatts by the end of the decade.

The electrification of transport will significantly increase electricity demand. While electric vehicles currently account for about 1 percent of global electricity consumption, this share could rise to 3 to 4 percent by 2030. This creates additional demand for renewable energies, but also offers potential for flexibility through intelligent charging management.

Data centers and artificial intelligence are becoming dominant electricity consumers. BloombergNEF expects global electricity demand from data centers to rise from approximately 500 terawatt-hours in 2023 to 1,200 terawatt-hours by 2035 and 3,700 terawatt-hours by 2050. In the US, data centers' share of total electricity consumption could increase from 3.5 percent today to 8.6 percent in 2035. This demand could further drive renewable energy, as many technology companies are pursuing carbon neutrality goals and prefer to source renewable electricity.

The political framework will likely continue to evolve towards climate protection, despite temporary setbacks in individual countries. The COP28 goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 establishes a global benchmark. The necessary investments are estimated at approximately US$12 trillion by 2030, two-thirds of which will be for renewable energy sources themselves and one-third for grid and storage infrastructure.

Innovative business models such as power purchase agreements for companies, community solar, and energy-as-a-service will democratize the financing of and access to renewable energy. Prosumers, i.e., consumers who are also producers, will become an integral part of the energy system.

Cross-sectoral integration will progress. Coupling the electricity, heating, and transport sectors through technologies such as heat pumps, electric vehicles, and hydrogen will create synergies and increase the overall efficiency of the energy system.

These developments suggest that the energy transition will accelerate in the coming years. The combination of further falling costs, technological breakthroughs, political support, and growing public awareness creates favorable conditions for a fundamental transformation of the global energy system within the next two decades.

The point where the future begins: A final assessment

The global energy transition reached a historic turning point in 2025. For the first time in the history of industrialization, renewable energies generated more electricity than coal, the energy source that formed the foundation of economic development for over two centuries. This shift is not a symbolic act, but the result of decades of technological innovation, drastic cost reductions, and increasing political and social support.

What is particularly noteworthy is that this transition is occurring during a period of rapid global demand growth. Instead of merely replacing stagnant fossil fuel capacity, the growth of renewable energies is outpacing rising electricity consumption, leading to initial emissions reductions even in rapidly growing economies like China and India. This refutes fundamental assumptions that have long dominated the climate debate, namely that economic growth must inevitably be accompanied by rising emissions.

The economic fundamentals have shifted irreversibly. Renewable energies are no longer an expensive alternative requiring government subsidies to compete with fossil fuels. In most regions of the world, solar and wind power are now the most cost-effective options for new electricity generation. This economic superiority, combined with further declining costs due to technological learning curves, creates a self-reinforcing dynamic that accelerates the transformation.

Nevertheless, it would be premature to speak of a complete success. The challenges are considerable and multifaceted. The intermittent nature of renewable energies requires massive investments in storage technologies and grid infrastructure, which have so far lagged behind the expansion of generation capacity. The availability of critical minerals poses geopolitical risks and potential shortages. The unequal distribution of financial resources threatens to exclude large segments of the world's population from the benefits of the renewable energy revolution.

The social and political dimensions of the energy transition remain complex. While general support for renewable energies is high, local resistance to specific projects is evident, often orchestrated or amplified by actors with an interest in maintaining the fossil fuel status quo. Ensuring a just transition, addressing the needs of workers in fossil fuel industries, and fairly distributing costs and benefits remain key challenges.

The speed of the transformation is impressive, but still insufficient to meet the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, renewable energy capacity would need to triple to over 11,000 gigawatts by 2030. The current growth rate of 15.1 percent is just below the required 16.6 percent. Furthermore, the mere installation of renewable energy capacity must be accompanied by actual emissions reductions, which necessitates a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels.

The role of China and India is of central importance in this context. These two countries, which together represent over a third of the world's population and have previously been among the biggest emitters, are now demonstrating that economic growth and emissions reduction are compatible. Their continuation of this path is essential for global climate protection.

The technological innovations on the horizon, from perovskite solar cells and floating offshore wind farms to green hydrogen and virtual power plants, promise further dramatic improvements in efficiency and cost-effectiveness. These developments could further accelerate the energy transition in the coming years and open up sectors previously considered difficult to decarbonize.

Ultimately, humanity stands at a crossroads. The technological and economic prerequisites for a complete transformation of the energy system are in place. The decision as to whether this transformation occurs quickly enough to avoid catastrophic climate impacts lies in the political, societal, and individual choices of the coming years. The historic milestone of 2025, when renewable energies replaced coal as the primary energy source, marks not the end, but the beginning of the decisive phase of this transformation. The direction is set, the pace must continue to increase, and the reach must expand to all sectors and regions. The quiet revolution of renewable energies has begun to unleash its true power.

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