China’s Coal Power Generation Falls for First Time in a Decade as Renewables Surge

Beijing, Thursday, 12 February 2026.
In a historic decoupling of energy demand from fossil fuel consumption, China’s coal-fired power generation fell by 1.9% in 2025, the first annual decline in a decade. Despite a robust 5% increase in overall electricity demand, an aggressive expansion of wind and solar capacity allowed non-fossil sources to meet all incremental growth. Wood Mackenzie reports that coal capacity factors have retreated to 48.2%, signaling a structural shift where coal is moving from a baseload provider to a flexibility mechanism. While analysts predict an “undulating plateau” rather than an immediate collapse for coal, this inflection point suggests China’s power sector emissions likely peaked in 2024, fundamentally altering the outlook for global climate targets.