Wind and solar overtake fossil fuels in Germany for the first time

Wind and solar power together generated more of Germany’s electricity than fossil fuels for the first time ever in 2025, according to Carbon Brief’s analysis of data from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy. The milestone is shared by the European Union as a whole, which also saw wind and solar overtake fossil-fuel generation for the first time in 2025.

A milestone in numbers

Wind and solar together produced 225 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, 44% of Germany’s total, against 217 TWh, or 43%, from fossil fuels. The shift follows two decades of rapid growth in solar and onshore wind under Germany’s “Energiewende” strategy, as the country moves away from both coal and nuclear power.

Targets and the nuclear phaseout

Germany aims to install 115 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind by 2030 and approved a record 20.8 GW of new capacity in 2025 alone. Official targets require economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2045, an 80% renewables share of electricity consumption by 2030, and a “largely climate neutral” power system by 2035. Because of its nuclear phaseout — a core plank of the Energiewende — Germany has to lean on renewables harder than neighbours such as France and the UK. Centre-right Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the phaseout as a “strategic mistake” earlier this year, but his government has ruled out returning to conventional nuclear power.

Coal and political headwinds

Coal remains the bigger near-term challenge: Germany still relies on it far more than most other European countries, with an official phaseout deadline of “no later than” 2038, though experts believe the country is on track to eliminate coal years ahead of that date despite pressure during the recent energy crisis. Renewables now face a different kind of opposition — mounting resistance from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — even as the current coalition pursues new gas-fired power plants, legislated as a bridge technology and intended to convert to green hydrogen by 2045 to stay consistent with the climate-neutrality target. Very few voices outside the AfD are calling to scrap the coal phaseout altogether, but the government is due to publish a review of its timelines in August, which will be the next test of how firmly Berlin intends to hold the line.