The global energy transition has crossed many milestones over the past decade, surpassing most expectations. Thanks to technological innovation, entrepreneurship and risk-taking by policymakers and businesses, the installed capacity grew sevenfold for solar PVs and threefold for onshore wind turbines since 2010.
Once considered a pipe dream, the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix is higher than fossil fuels in some countries. The past decade has also seen the number of people without access to modern forms of energy significantly decline.
But, there is still a long way to go. As of 2019, 81% of the world primary energy supply was still based on fossil fuels. And while the share of coal in the electricity mix has been steadily declining, the volume of electricity produced from coal has increased in absolute terms — primarily in regions with rising energy demand.