China: each kilowatt-hour is 18% cleaner, yet power plants emit 41% more
From 2013 to 2023 the share of electricity made without coal, gas or oil rose from 22% to 35%, but generation grew by 73%, from 5.4 thousand TWh to 9.4 thousand TWh. So total power-plant emissions rose from 3.9 billion tonnes to 5.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases.
More
Emissions per kWh fall, but so much more electricity is generated that total emissions rise.
One percentage scale relative to 2013: 0% is the starting value, +100% is a doubling, −50% is a halving. Lines show the yearly path; on a short screen, bars show the change to 2023. Equal distances mean equal relative changes. For shares, this is relative change, not percentage points. Gaps are not filled; original values and units are below.
- Low-carbon share of electricity % of generation
22.053 (2013) → 34.624 (2023)
- Wind and solar share of electricity % of generation
2.705 (2013) → 15.634 (2023)
- Coal share of electricity % of generation
75.452 (2013) → 61.273 (2023)
- Carbon intensity of electricity g CO2e per kWh
719.127 (2013) → 586.366 (2023)
- Electricity generation TWh per year
5,420.955 (2013) → 9,402.742 (2023)
- Electricity generation emissions Mt CO2e per year
3,898.357 (2013) → 5,513.447 (2023)
Start: 2013; end: the latest shared year of six series up to 2023 (2023). Shares, emissions per kWh, generation and total emissions are separate values in the same Ember publication. Only power systems of at least 10 TWh a year. No expected baseline is fitted.
Clean sources are nuclear, hydro, wind, solar and other plants burning no coal, gas or oil; wind and solar are part of that share. Emissions cover power plants only, not the whole economy, in CO₂ equivalent.
A question for this picture
Which improvement matters more: a cleaner kWh or total emissions?