London, 18 May – New data from energy think tank Ember reveals that fossil fuels generated less than 5% of Brazil’s electricity in February, for the first time in a decade. Across the first quarter of 2023, fossil fuels generated 5.4% of Brazil’s electricity, compared to 10% in the same period in 2022. This record was driven by strong long-term growth of wind and solar and recent improvement in hydroelectricity performance.
As a result of the decline in fossil fuels, Brazil’s power sector emissions fell by 29% (-3.7 million tonnes of CO2) in Q1 2023 compared with Q1 2022, despite overall generation growth of 4 terawatt hours in the same period. Good hydroelectricity conditions have allowed the current low in fossil use, with hydro generation reaching an all-time high of 125 TWh in Q1 2023; 3.4% (+5 TWh) higher than in Q1 2022.
