Fossil fuels overtaken by wind & solar in EU in 2025

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January 23, 2026
3 min read

Fossil fuels overtaken by wind & solar in EU in 2025

Wind and solar have overtaken fossil fuels in generating power for the EU in 2025, according to a report. Turbines and solar panels generated 30% of the electricity in the EU last year, while fossil fuels, coal, oil, and gas, accounted for 29%.

This was hailed as a “major tipping point by Beatrice Petrovich, an analyst at the Ember thinktank and the report’s lead author. This, she added, was of strategic importance to the EU in reducing its reliance on other countries for energy. “The importance of this goes beyond the power sector,” she said. “The danger of relying on fossil fuels looms large in destabilised geopolitics.”

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Europe has faced growing tensions with the US following Trump’s interest in Greenland. The US is the bloc’s main supplier of liquefied natural gas. American commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick criticised Europe’s use of solar and wind at a summit in Davos, saying that a lack of domestic factories making batteries made it “subservient” to China. “If you are going to be dependent on someone, it had better be your best allies,” he said, encouraging other countries to adopt an “America first” approach.

The trend, according to analysts, was largely thanks to a boom in solar, which was responsible for 13% of the power in the EU. Five countries, including the Netherlands, generated 20% of their electricity through it. Wind turbines meanwhile had declined compared with the previous year, according to the report, but are still the second largest source of energy, being responsible for 17% of the EU’s power.

Fossil gas has increased by 8%, manly because of a weather-related fall in hydropower generation. But it is still below its peak in 2019, according to the report. Coal fell to a historic low of 10%, with Germany and Poland using it the most.

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