Clean energy is not overtaking fossil fuels this year – instead, significant progress has been made with renewables but at the same rate as fossil fuels.
Areport by consultancy by McKinsey says that we need to make the whole system work, not just add more clean power.
Diego Hernandez Diaz and Humayan Tai, Report authors say that: “For policymakers, investors, utilities, and industrial players, that may mean developing portfolios that combine low-carbon power with flexibility, dispatchability, and diversified supply chains, while also reducing permitting bottlenecks and accelerating transmission build-out.”
This alludes to the need to turn towards issues such as grid bottlenecks, storage, transmission and other infrastructure, rather than just new wind and solar, as we have seen across the past year – like the £1 billion+ paid to wind farms because they were told to turn down output, or the constraint costs becoming £300 million higher every year – forecasted to hit £3 billion by 2027 If grid capacity doesn’t catch up with renewables.
Recent data shows that, in 2025, oil demand added about 1.3 million barrels per day, an increase from the growth seen in 2023–24. Coal consumption also hit record levels, says the report.
The analysis shows that, as yet, no single fuel type is replacing another.
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