For the first time in history, wind and solar generated more electricity in the European Union than fossil fuels.
The milestone, confirmed in Ember's annual EU electricity report and reported in January 2026, marks a structural shift that many energy analysts thought was still years away. In 2025, wind and solar together accounted for 30% of the EU's electricity generation. Fossil fuels — coal, gas, and oil — produced 29%. Renewables overall, including hydropower and nuclear, provided nearly half (48%) of all EU electricity.
The numbers would have seemed impossible a decade ago.
In 2020, wind and solar generated just 20% of EU electricity, while fossil fuels produced 37%. In five years, the gap closed entirely and reversed. Wind remains the second-largest electricity source in the EU at 17%. Solar — the newer, faster-growing technology — reached 13%, surpassing both coal and hydropower individually in 2025. Solar has now grown by over 20% for four consecutive years.
This isn't just a headline. It's a structural change.
For most of modern history, European electricity grids were built around the assumption that fossil fuels would always be the primary source of power. Grids were designed for centralised, always-on generation. The idea that intermittent sources — sun and wind — could exceed fossil output at a continental scale was considered technically and economically implausible by many experts as recently as the early 2010s.
Now it has happened.
Wind and solar already generated more electricity than fossil fuels in 14 of the EU's 27 member states in 2025. Coal hit a new historic low at 9.2% of EU electricity — down dramatically from the 25%+ levels of a decade ago. Even gas, which saw an 8% rise in 2025 due to reduced hydropower output from unusual weather, remains in long-term structural decline.
The EU's 2030 target calls for 42.5% of all energy (not just electricity) to come from renewables. The electricity sector is now ahead of pace. Solar capacity additions in 2025 alone were enough to power tens of millions of additional homes.
This is a story about what happens when investment, policy, and technology align over time. It's not a single breakthrough moment. It's thousands of wind turbines built, millions of solar panels installed, and a continent quietly rewiring itself while the world was watching other things.
And then one year, the old order simply... ended.
Fossil fuels are no longer the backbone of European electricity. Clean energy is. 🌬️☀️