The Fastest Energy Transformation in Human History: Displacing Fossil Fuels with Renewables

Strategic Insights -

The idea that the global shift away from fossil fuels is glacially slow is a misconception that can encourage climate fatalism. In reality, the transition to clean energy is happening at an unprecedented speed, with renewables becoming cheap and reliable in the past decade. The rapid growth of solar farms, wind turbines, and grid-scale storage has made net-zero cities possible, and the iron laws of economics are kicking in, displacing more and more fossil fuels.

Key Takeaways:

  • The renewable revolution is happening at an unprecedented speed, with every previous large-scale shift in energy taking decades or longer to occur.
  • In the past five years, energy storage has become cheap and widely available, and solar and wind are now outpacing new coal, oil, and gas capacity by a factor of three or higher in major economies.
  • The International Energy Agency projects clean energy investment to reach a record A$3.3 trillion in 2025, double the investment in fossil fuels and more than four times what it was just a decade ago.
  • Globally, renewable energy capacity is being added at all-time highs, with more than 585 gigawatts of new wind and solar built in 2024-25.
  • Solar is having a particularly rapid growth spurt, outpacing any other energy source, and batteries are likely to undergo similar growth as prices fall.
  • Decoupling growth from emissions is occurring, with electricity demand rising in most economies while emissions plateau or fall where renewables are most adopted.
  • Fossil fuels are being displaced, with the United Kingdom closing its last coal plant in 2024 and its emissions falling more than 50% below 1990 figures.
  • The tipping point has arrived, and cheap, plentiful renewables are expected to outcompete more and more fossil fuels in the next few years.

Sources:

  • International Energy Agency (no date available)
  • The University of Western Australia and Curtin University (2025, September 11)

Statistics:

  • In 2025, the International Energy Agency projects clean energy investment will reach a record A$3.3 trillion, double the investment in fossil fuels and more than four times what it was just a decade ago.
  • Globally, renewable energy capacity is being added at all-time highs, with more than 585 gigawatts of new wind and solar built in 2024-25.
  • Solar is having a particularly rapid growth spurt, outpacing any other energy source, with solar farms and wind turbines being built at remarkable speed.
  • Electricity demand is rising in most economies, even as emissions plateau or fall where renewables are most adopted.
  • In 2024, the United Kingdom closed its last coal plant, and its emissions fell more than 50% below 1990 figures.
  • As of 2024, there were almost 58 million battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the world's roads, avoiding the need to burn more than 250 million litres of oil per day.
  • In 2020, renewables contributed about 21% of Australia's electricity, and five years later, that figure has almost doubled to about 42%.