Wind turbines and solar panels were responsible for a record 12% of global electricity production last year, up from 10% in 2021, but they are still far behind coal, which remains the world’s main source of electricity, shows a report published on Wednesday by the think tank Ember, informs AFP.

For its fourth annual ‘Global Electricity Review’ report, Ember analyzed data on electricity production from 78 countries that, together, are responsible for 93% of global electricity demand. The conclusion reached by the experts of the think tank is that all sources of renewable energy plus nuclear energy were responsible for 39% of the world’s electricity production last year, a record level according to the authors of the report, the rest being covered by fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, coal), according to Agerpres.

Compared to the situation in 2021, the share of photovoltaic energy in global electricity production increased by 24%, and that of wind energy – by 17%.

Even amid the global natural gas crisis and some countries restarting old coal-fired power plants to meet demand, coal-fired electricity production rose 1.1%, while coal-fired electricity production of natural gas decreased by 0.2% due to high prices for this fuel.

“Despite these advances, coal remains the largest source of electricity worldwide, producing 36% of the world’s electricity in 2022,” the report’s authors point out.

The continued use of natural gas and coal to meet electricity demand resulted in “a 1.3% increase in greenhouse gas emissions to a new record of 12 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2022.”

However, the authors of the report believe that it is possible that 2022 will be the year in which emissions related to the energy sector have reached their peak, being the last year of growth in energy produced from fossil fuels.

For 2023, experts expect a slight decrease (minus 0.3%) in electricity production based on fossil fuels, with more important decreases being forecast for the following years, as the development of wind and photovoltaic capacities accelerates.