Canada’s annual greenhouse gas reductions stalled out at 2.2 million tonnes in 2024, or just 0.3% of the year’s total of 685 megatonnes, even though the rest of the world was on the cusp of a surge in solar and a reduction in fossil fuels as a share of global power generation through 2025.
While the federal government committed in 2021 to cut emissions by 40 to 45% from 2005 levels by 2030, the latest emissions inventory from Environment and Climate Canada shows a reduction of only 10% across all fuels and electricity as of the end of 2024.
While electricity emissions fell 57% between 2005 and 2024, largely due to the phaseout of coal-fired power generation in many though not yet all provinces, emissions across the oil and gas sector were still up 5.1% from 2005 to 2024 after peaking in 2014. Within the sector, oil sands emissions rose by 59 megatonnes as production increased.
Those totals stood in stark contrast to the results in the Global Electricity Review released last week by the Ember clean energy think tank—albeit for 2025, while the latest emissions data available in Canada are for 2024. Solar met three-quarters of the world’s soaring demand for electricity, with 636 terawatt-hours of new capacity—enough to offset all liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
In Canada, Ember found, solar and wind accounted for just 9.5% of the electricity mix, the lowest percentage across G7 countries and just half of the deployment in the United States, which stood at 19%.
“We have firmly entered the era of clean growth,” said Aditya Lolla, Ember’s interim managing director. “Clean energy is now scaling fast enough to absorb rising global electricity demand, keeping fossil generation flat before its inevitable decline.”
“The momentum we are seeing is no longer just an ambition,” she added. “It is becoming a structural reality.”
Ember’s review pointed to a turning point in clean electricity generation, largely driven by solar, which offset any need for more fossil fuels for electricity. “For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and only the fifth time this century, fossil generation did not rise, recording a small fall of 38 terawatt-hours, or -0.2%,” the report states.
Global electricity demand rose by 2.8% or 849 terawatt hours in 2025—slower than the 4.3% growth rate in 2024. Solar accounted for 75% of clean electricity growth, increasing 30% from 2024, while wind provided 24% of the growth with an 8.2% increase. The remaining 1% came from nuclear and other low-carbon sources.
Ember points to a “historic reversal” in China and India, where 2025 was the first year this century when fossil generation fell in both countries. China alone accounted for just over half of the global growth in solar and two-thirds in wind.
But the findings show that demand growth need no longer translate into increased fossil fuel generation, Ember contended. There is still “unrealized potential” for solar deployment in countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia where fossil fuel generation is increasing, and most economies that still rely on fossil fuels to meet growing power demand “sit almost exclusively in regions with excellent solar conditions.”
Battery storage, too, is becoming increasingly effective and cost competitive, “ready to bring a paradigm shift and unlock the second stage of global solar growth.”
The rapid deployment of solar and batteries is opening opportunities for improved energy security and, with the concurrent drop in fossil fuels, is reshaping the global economy, Ember added.
“Clean energy is rapidly redefining the foundation of energy security in a volatile world,” said Lolla. “It is already helping countries reduce exposure to fossil fuel imports and costs while meeting rising electricity demand. The next step is to modernize grids and regulatory frameworks so power systems are ready to handle this new reality.”
In Canada, the Alberta-based Pembina Institute said the new federal report showed why the controversial Memorandum of Understanding between the federal and Alberta governments must lead to “serious, credible plans to grow its electricity supply in a way that is most cost-effective and ensures long-term reliability and energy security.” The think tank added that Alberta’s emissions are not decreasing in line with the country’s progress overall, and 2024 is likely to be the last year the province will show significant electricity emissions reductions, since it was also the year when the last coal-fired plant closed.
“There is no realistic pathway to this outcome that does not include the widespread deployment of wind and solar, much more than is possible under current provincial red tape,” writes Pembina.