Renewable energy overtakes coal as the world's leading source of electricity.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm William Lee Adams. Good morning.

Renewable energy has, for the first time, generated more electricity than coal.

That's according to data from the Global Energy Think Tank, Ember.

It found the growth in solar and wind was so strong it met 100 data from the global energy think tank, Ember. It found the growth

in solar and wind was so strong it met 100% of the new global electricity demand in the first half

of this year. The BBC's climate editor, Justin Rowlett, is here to unpack that. Justin hi.

Hi, William. How are you doing? Really good. Thanks for being with us. Why is this so important?

Because coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, has been the main source of energy for electricity

generation, literally since the dawn of the electric era, and still held that crown as recently as last

year, 2024, which is why Ember, which is the global energy think tank that

published today's report, describes this as a crucial turning point for the world energy system.

And the pace of change is, of course, uneven. Who's leading the way?

Sunny parts of the world, the tropics, and lower income countries, interestingly.

China is overwhelmingly dominant in this industry.

It added more wind and solar than the rest of the world combined,

which helped reduce its fossil fuel generation for electricity by 2%.

India also saw renewable power outpace electricity demand, but it's actually in smaller countries

where the really dramatic fall that we've seen in the price of solar is really kicking in.

What seems to be happening is that it's become now so cheap to buy solar panels and batteries

to back them up during the night when the sun isn't shining, that when you've got relatively high electricity prices or unreliable electricity,

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