Power-sector emissions reached an estimated 13,800 million tonnes of CO2 globally in 2024, while electricity demand and clean generation both expanded. The figures below distinguish global estimates, U.S. reporting series, direct pollutants, fuel shares and forecasts.
Key Power Sector Emission Statistics
The most useful headline figures span scale, fuel mix, pollutants, intensity and the near-term outlook:
- 13,800 million tonnes of CO2 came from global power generation in 2024, the highest total of any sector.
- Global power-generation CO2 emissions rose 1% year over year in 2024.
- Global electricity demand grew 4.3% in 2024.
- Fossil-fuel generation increased 1.3% globally in 2024.
- Buildings accounted for nearly 60% of global electricity-consumption growth in 2024.
- U.S. GHGRP power-plant emissions totaled 1,471.5 million metric tons CO2e in 2023.
- U.S. GHGRP power-plant CO2 emissions totaled 1,465.3 million metric tons in 2023.
- U.S. conventional and CHP plants emitted 1,537,073 thousand metric tons of CO2 in 2024.
- U.S. conventional and CHP plants emitted 808 thousand metric tons of SO2 in 2024.
- U.S. conventional and CHP plants emitted 1,112 thousand metric tons of NOx in 2024.
- Coal supplied 20% of U.S. electricity generation but produced 55% of sector CO2 emissions in 2022.
- Fossil fuels supplied nearly 60% of global electricity generation in 2024.
- Clean energy supplied more than 80% of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024.
- Global electricity-generation CO2 intensity fell 3% in 2024.
- Global electricity-generation CO2 intensity was 445 g CO2/kWh in 2024.
- Global power-sector CO2 emissions are forecast to be broadly flat at -0.1% across 2025–2027.
- Global electricity demand is forecast to grow 3.9% per year on average from 2025 through 2027.
- Global electricity CO2 intensity is forecast to fall to 400 g CO2/kWh in 2027.
Contents
- Global power sector emissions: scale and recent trends
- U.S. electric power emissions across gases and years
- Power plant CO2, SO2 and NOx statistics
- Fuel mix and power sector emissions data
- Clean electricity growth and emissions intensity
- Power sector emissions forecasts through 2027
Global Power Sector Emissions: Scale and Recent Trends
The International Energy Agency estimated global power-generation CO2 emissions at 13,800 million tonnes in 2024. This is the emissions total for electricity generation, not all energy-sector emissions, and it is an estimate for the historical year. IEA, Electricity 2025: Emissions
Recent demand and supply changes provide context for that total:
- Global power-generation CO2 emissions rose 1.4% in 2023 and 1% in 2024.
- Global electricity demand grew 4.3% in 2024, while fossil-fuel generation increased 1.3%.
- Global electricity consumption increased by 1,080 TWh in 2024.
- Buildings accounted for nearly 60% of global electricity-consumption growth in 2024, with building consumption increasing by more than 600 TWh, or 5%.
- Industry represented nearly 40% of total global electricity-demand growth in 2024.
These demand shares describe electricity use rather than direct emissions from buildings or industry. The IEA figures are estimates, and weather and fuel mix can affect annual changes. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
U.S. Electric Power Emissions Across Gases and Years
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program counted 1,320 reporting power-plant facilities in 2023. The coverage is the GHGRP reporting population, not every generator in the country.
| Year | Reported power-plant emissions | Unit and scope |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2,221.7 | million metric tons CO2e, GHGRP |
| 2020 | 1,495.1 | million metric tons CO2e, GHGRP |
| 2021 | 1,597.3 | million metric tons CO2e, GHGRP |
| 2022 | 1,585.6 | million metric tons CO2e, GHGRP |
| 2023 | 1,471.5 | million metric tons CO2e, GHGRP |
The 2023 GHGRP total is reported direct emissions, with biomass CO2 excluded. EPA, GHGRP Power Plants
The 2023 gas breakdown was 1,465.3 million metric tons of CO2, 2.1 million metric tons CO2e of methane, and 4.1 million metric tons CO2e of nitrous oxide. Methane and nitrous oxide are converted to CO2e in the GHGRP table, and independent rounding means individual gas totals may not sum exactly.
Power Plant CO2, SO2 and NOx Statistics
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s annual series covers conventional power plants and combined-heat-and-power plants. It includes emissions from electricity generation plus useful thermal output, so its scope differs from EPA GHGRP direct facility reporting.
| Pollutant | 2014 | 2022 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO2 | 2,168,284 | 1,650,367 | 1,537,073 |
| SO2 | 3,454 | 1,079 | 808 |
| NOx | 2,100 | 1,230 | 1,112 |
All table values are thousand metric tons for U.S. conventional and CHP plants. The EIA source reports the same population and scope for each year, but the table should not be read as a direct match to the GHGRP series. EIA, Electric Power Annual, Table 9.1
The pollutants also answer different questions. CO2 tracks combustion-related climate emissions, while SO2 and NOx are conventional air pollutants; their units are the same in the EIA table, but they are not interchangeable measures of impact.
Fuel Mix and Power Sector Emissions Data
Fuel shares help explain why generation percentages and emissions percentages can diverge. In the United States in 2022, coal supplied 20% of electricity generation but accounted for 55% of electric-power-sector CO2 emissions.
| U.S. electricity source | Share of generation in 2022 |
|---|---|
| Natural gas | 39% |
| Renewables | 21% |
| Coal | 20% |
| Nuclear | 19% |
| Petroleum | Less than 1% |
Renewables include hydroelectricity, biomass, wind and solar in this comparison. The shares describe generation, not lifecycle emissions, and the coal comparison concerns combustion-related sector CO2. EPA, Electric Power Sector Emissions
Globally, coal accounted for 35% of electricity generation in 2024, natural gas supplied more than 20%, and fossil fuels together supplied nearly 60%. Renewables and nuclear together supplied two-fifths of global electricity generation, according to the IEA estimate. IEA, Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity
Clean Electricity Growth and Emissions Intensity
Clean generation grew rapidly in 2024, but the clean-generation shares below do not by themselves quantify avoided emissions:
- Global electricity generation grew by more than 1,200 TWh in 2024.
- Clean energy supplied more than 80% of the increase in global electricity generation.
- Renewables alone supplied almost three-quarters of the increase in global power generation.
- Solar PV generation increased by about 480 TWh, wind by about 180 TWh, and hydropower by 190 TWh globally in 2024.
- Nuclear power output increased by nearly 4% globally in 2024.
The IEA estimated that global electricity-generation CO2 intensity fell 3%, to 445 g CO2/kWh, in 2024. Intensity means total CO2 emissions divided by total generation and excludes lifecycle emissions.
Hydropower’s 2024 increase was attributed in part to wet weather in major markets. IEA, Electricity 2025: Emissions
Power Sector Emissions Forecasts Through 2027
The IEA forecasts global power-sector CO2 emissions to be broadly flat at -0.1% across 2025–2027, even as global electricity demand grows at an average 3.9% per year. It also forecasts electricity CO2 intensity to decline by an average 3.6% annually over the same period, from 445 g CO2/kWh in 2024 to 400 g CO2/kWh in 2027.
These are forecasts, not realized outcomes. Weather, hydropower availability, commodity prices, economic shocks and fuel mix can change annual results. IEA, Electricity 2025: Emissions
An earlier IEA forecast vintage illustrates why dates matter: Electricity 2024 forecast global electricity-generation CO2 emissions to fall by more than 2% in 2024, with small declines forecast in both 2025 and 2026. Those earlier projections should not be treated as realized 2024 results or compared with later revisions without retaining the forecast vintage. IEA, Electricity 2025: Emissions
For the United States, EIA estimated electric-power CO2 emissions at 1,427 million metric tons in 2024, compared with 1,421 million metric tons in 2023. U.S. electricity generation increased 3%, or 122 TWh, in 2024, while power-sector CO2 was nearly flat in that EIA series; this series has a distinct scope from GHGRP direct facility CO2e reporting. EIA, U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2024