Solar now beats coal in 25 of 81 coal-burning countries

Claim types Fact · Estimate · Interpretation

Ember yearly electricity data, read from the Ember API (api.ember-energy.org/v1/electricity-generation/yearly, series Solar and Coal, generation in TWh), CC BY 4.0. Counted: every non-aggregate country or territory Ember lists with coal generation above zero (Ember rounds to 0.01 TWh): 81 in 2024, 87 in 2015. Solar above coal: 25 in 2024 (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Spain, Hungary, United Kingdom, Denmark, Argentina, France, Finland, Croatia, Iran, Ireland, Singapore, Slovakia, Panama, Senegal, Honduras, Namibia, Afghanistan, Eswatini, Belarus), 23 of 85 in 2023, 4 of 87 in 2015 (Belgium, Pakistan, Honduras, Namibia). Several of the 25 burn very little coal (Eswatini 0.02, Belarus 0.02, Afghanistan 0.03 TWh). TWh coal vs solar, 2024: Brazil 14.13 vs 70.67 (2015: 26.98 vs 0.06); Mexico 14.01 vs 26.30; Chile 13.56 vs 20.19; China 5,836 vs 839; India 1,518 vs 142; Pakistan 20.20 vs 19.83. 2024 is the latest year with full coverage: Ember's 2025 data so far covers 61 coal-burning countries, of which 22 had more solar than coal, including Uzbekistan and Israel for the first time and Pakistan for the first time since its big coal plants opened in 2017 (plate 150). Ember compiles national statistics and fills gaps with its own estimates; the API does not flag which values are estimated, so recent years may be revised. The 81 include territories (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, New Caledonia); Puerto Rico and New Caledonia have no square on the tile map. Map hover shows solar generation divided by coal generation. Counts and ratios are progrss calculations.