Portion of world electricity generated by fossil fuels has fallen 2 percentage points in 30 years

Reports in the legacy media regularly claim that we are rapidly eliminating fossil fuels, and the energy transition is steamrolling its way to success. Data, however, appears to show a different picture.

According to the Energy Policy Research Foundation, fossil fuels remain critical to keeping the lights on. In 2023, coal, natural gas and oil-fired power plants produced 18 terawatt hours of electricity, which was 60% of the total. This was a decline of 62% in 1993.

The findings are based on data from the Statistical Review of World Energy, the latest version of which came out in June. Widely considered the benchmark source for data on energy trends across the globe, the “Statistical Review” has been published every year since 1952.

Electricity accounts for about 20% of the total energy consumed on Earth. The larger portions are industry and transportation. The “Statistical Review” found that a little over 81% of the total energy consumed in 2023 came from oil, gas and coal.