Electricity Mix

Electricity is one of three components that make up total energy production. The other two are transport and heating.

As we see in more detail in this article, the breakdown of sources – coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewables – is different in the electricity versus the energy mix. Generally, low-carbon sources (nuclear and renewables) account for a larger share in our electricity mix than our total energy mix.

This means it’s important to distinguish between the two. In another page we provide the full breakdown of the Energy Mix. But in this article we focus on the Electricity Mix.

Where do we get our electricity from? Which countries have the cleanest electricity grids? In this article we look at the breakdown across the world.

Solar and wind generation are growing quickly across the world. This is, of course, good news as we try to shift our energy systems away from fossil fuels.

Such progress often makes the headlines. Here is one example from this year:

→ More UK energy is coming from clean sources than fossil fuels for the first time ever, National Grid announces (Independent, 2020)

At first glance, we might think that we are edging close to a fossil-free energy system. 

Unfortunately, many of  these headlines are misleading.¹  The Independent made the mistake of using the terms electricity and energy interchangeably, when they are actually not the same thing. 

Electricity (or ‘power’) is just one component of total energy consumption. The other two components being transport and heating.

When we see headlines about our progress on decarbonization, the quoted figures often refer to electricity. Many countries are making progress on clean electricity, but progress on energy as a whole is much slower.

Let’s compare the breakdown of the global energy and electricity mix – these are shown in the chart. 

We see a large difference between the share that comes from low-carbon sources. Nuclear and renewables account for more than one-third (36.7%) of global electricity. But they account for less than half that figure (15.7%) of the global energy mix. This is because the other elements of the energy demand – transport and heating – rely much more heavily on fossil fuels.

But there is another aspect to consider. The fact that transport and heating are harder to decarbonize, clean electricity will become ever-more important. Many solutions rely on us electrifying other parts of the energy system – such as shifting to electric vehicles. The International Energy Agency, for example, projects that by 2030, global electricity demand for electric vehicles will increase five- to eleven-fold from levels in 2019. If we are to reap the climate benefits of electric vehicles, this electricity needs to be as low-carbon as possible.

But when we see headlines on progress in decarbonizing the electricity sector we need to remember that it is just one part of the energy story. If we don’t, we risk falling into a false sense of progress and let leaders, governments and companies boast targets that are not nearly ambitious enough.

Around 16% of global energy (15.7% to be precise) comes from low-carbon sources – that is, the sum of nuclear energy and renewables.

But energy and electricity are not the same – despite the fact that many people use these terms interchangeably. Electricity (sometimes referred to as ‘power’) is only a subset of total energy production, which also includes heating and transport.

How much of our electricity comes from low-carbon sources?

37% of global electricity production comes from low-carbon sources

In the chart we see the percentage of global electricity production that comes from nuclear or renewable energy, such as solar, wind,  hydropower, wind and tidal and some biomass. 

Globally, 36.7% of our electricity was low-carbon in 2019. More than one-third. The remaining two-thirds come from fossil fuels – mostly coal and gas.

This is more than double the share in the total energy mix, where nuclear and  renewables only account for 15.7%. We looked at the comparison of the global energy and electricity mix here. When people quote a high number for the share of low-carbon energy in the electricity mix we need to be aware of the fact that electricity is only part of the energy equation. The share in the total energy mix is much smaller.

Disappointingly, the percentage of electricity that comes from low-carbon sources today is almost unchanged from the mid-1980s. In fact, throughout the early-2000s this share actually regressed. In the following section we will see that progress was slow because nuclear output declined at a time when renewables have been growing.

Low-carbon electricity: around 26% of global electricity comes from renewables, and 10% from nuclear

What is the breakdown of our electricity supply in terms of fossil fuels, renewable energy and nuclear power?

In 2019, almost two-thirds (63.3%) of global electricity came from fossil fuels. Of the 36.7% from low-carbon sources, renewables accounted for 26.3% and nuclear energy for 10.4%.

As we noted earlier, the relative contribution of fossil fuels and low-carbon electricity has been pretty stagnant for decades. In fact, in the early 2000s, fossil fuels even gained ground. Over this period, nuclear’s share declined whilst renewables grew. We see this in the chart. The progress made in renewables has been offset by a decline in nuclear energy; nuclear declined by almost as much as renewables gained.

Some countries get most of their electricity from low-carbon sources

Globally we get just over one-third of our electricity from low-carbon sources. But some countries get much more – some nearly all of it – from fossil-free sources.

In the interactive map shown we see this share across the world. Some countries get over 90% of their electricity from nuclear or renewables – Sweden, Norway, France, Paraguay, Iceland, and Nepal, among others. 

You can explore the electricity mix – broken down by individual source – for countries in our work here. Nearly all of these countries have one thing in common: they get a lot of electricity from hydropower and/or nuclear energy. Solar, wind and other renewable technologies are growing quickly and will hopefully account for a large share of electricity production in the future – but the countries who have a low-carbon electricity mix today have relied heavily on hydroelectric and nuclear power in recent years.

We must take these country-level examples and learn from them. In the years to come, accelerating the transition to clean electricity will become ever-more important as we electrify other parts of the energy system too (shifting to electric vehicles, for example). We will need to rely on low-carbon electricity, and lots of it.