As the world enters another fossil fuel crisis, the era of clean power has arrived

2025 marked a turning point in the global power sector. For the first time outside of a global economic downturn, the expansion of fossil fuel generation came to a halt.The consequences of a power system dependent on fossil fuels have never been clearer. Just as solar, wind and batteries prove their scaling power, global disruptions highlight how exposed the majority of economies are to global fossil fuel markets. The choices countries make now will define how exposed they will be to the next crisis.

Solar power, wind and battery storage have proven to be the central technologies of this structural shift. They are now growing fast enough to meet global electricity demand growth. Coupled with rapidly dropping battery costs, affordable storage is unlocking the next level of solar growth, reducing price volatility and enhancing grid stability. Front-runner markets, such as Australia and Chile, are demonstrating that the benefits of fast-scaling daytime solar power can be expanded into round-the-clock clean power that is ready to deploy at scale.

Crucially, China’s world-leading scale-up of clean power has tipped the global balance from consistent fossil growth to an era of predominantly clean expansion. The signs of the underlying shift are evident: in China, efforts are already underway to retrofit the existing coal fleet, enabling lower utilisation so coal plants can provide flexibility rather than baseload power, in expectation of rapid renewables growth. The remaining fossil-growth economies, like India, Saudi Arabia or Indonesia, now have the technological tools at their disposal to join in this clean growth trajectory.

This milestone arrives at a critical moment in global energy markets. The US-Israeli war with Iran in 2026 marks the second time in just four years that escalating conflicts have severely disrupted global fossil fuel supply chains, following the coal and gas price spikes triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Three-quarters of the world’s population live in fossil-importing countries. As geopolitical tensions threaten fossil fuel supply chains and trigger price volatility, the risks of fossil dependency have never been clearer. Clean power is becoming a fundamental pillar of national security. As the electrification of transport and industry accelerates, domestic energy resilience will dictate global competitiveness.

As fossil fuels in the power sector enter a plateau, changes over the next few years will be driven by temporary factors, such as temperature fluctuations and economic conditions, rather than the structural need for new coal, gas or oil. With clean power expected to continue to exceed electricity demand growth, the stage is now set to deliver fossil-free growth both inside and outside the power sector. The immediate task for policymakers is to eliminate bottlenecks in grid infrastructure and regulatory frameworks. Moving away from fossil fuels enables a necessary upgrade to a more secure, resilient, and stable global power system.