Updated July 17, 2025

Energy lies at the core of the climate challenge — and holds the key to its solution. Most greenhouse gasses responsible for causing climate change are produced by burning fossil fuels for electricity and heat.

Scientists widely agree that it's crucial to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half by 2030. They also emphasize the importance of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 to address the severe consequences of the climate crisis. This requires shifting away from fossil fuels and investing in clean, accessible, affordable, sustainable, and reliable renewable energy sources.

What Is Renewable Energy?

Renewable energy refers to energy that comes from naturally regenerating sources. These energy sources are sustainable because they can be used without running out of resources or causing major harm to the environment.

Examples of renewable energy include wind power, solar power, bioenergy (generated from organic matter known as biomass) and hydroelectric, including wave and tidal energy.

Renewable energy sources have many advantages. Crucially, they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate climate change, but they also promote energy independence and create jobs. They also contribute to a more sustainable and resilient energy system.

3 Key Facts to Know About Renewable Energy 

• Nearly 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels for energy.
• In 2024, renewable energy generated more than 40% of the world’s electricity for the first time since the 1940s. 
• Several countries are already at nearly 100% renewable energy generation, including Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia. and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

What's the Connection Between Poverty and Renewable Energy? 

This is big — to end extreme poverty, we need to end energy poverty, which is the lack of access to reliable, adequate, and affordable electricity to meet one’s daily needs. 

We also need to address crucial areas like health care, food security, clean water, and education to end extreme poverty. But access to electricity is a critical first step, and is described as a catalyst issue — something necessary to make other things happen.

Many communities in low-income regions, particularly in rural and remote areas, lack access to reliable electricity. About 750 million people globally lack access to electricity, and 80% of this population resides in Sub-Saharan Africa. Renewable energy offers a huge opportunity to bridge this energy gap and ensure electricity for those who currently lack it. 

Making electricity generated by renewables more accessible — for example, through off-grid solar power solutions — will play a vital role in ending poverty. These off-grid renewable energy solutions include solar lighting, solar home systems, and mini-grids. They can bring clean and affordable electricity to underserved communities, and also improve quality of life, education, health care, and economic opportunities.

Who Would See the Most Benefits From Switching to Renewable Energy?

Switching to renewable energy could positively impact billions of lives by helping address the climate emergency.

It also can enhance public health, create job opportunities, and promote sustainable economic development. It offers a cleaner, more sustainable, and equitable future for people around the world.

Plus, the renewable energy sector is a growing source of job prospects across skill levels. It benefits both those seeking employment and those already working in related industries. 

Additionally, every dollar of investment in renewable energy can create three times more jobs than in the fossil fuel industry.

What Action Can We Take Now for Renewable Energy?

We urgently need to shift away from fossil fuels and transition to clean, renewable energy sources to prevent the most severe impacts of the global climate crisis.

There is some good news — for example, the cost of renewable technologies has decreased dramatically over the last ten years.

Yet there’s a lot more still to do. 

Everyone can do our bit — particularly those in high-income countries where our carbon emissions are highest — to transition our own lives away from fossil fuels, and generally reduce our own carbon footprints. 

But what we really need is investment in the shift to renewable energy — including from governments, philanthropists, and the private sector — and greater ambition and willpower from our world leaders who have the power to make the change happen on a global scale. 

For example, Africa has abundant renewable resources yet 600 million people lack electricity. That’s why Global Citizen, in partnership with the European Commission and the government of South Africa, launched the Scaling Up Renewables in Africa campaign. Join us to mobilize investments to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and ensure affordable energy access for all.

Global Citizen has also created Protect the Amazon, our largest effort to defend the planet and protect the people most impacted by climate change. Join us to call for action to end deforestation, accelerate a just energy transition, and support communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

You can join the movement of Global Citizens who are taking action right now to urge world leaders and the private sector to ditch fossil fuels in a move to a low-carbon future, and step up to ensure a just transition to renewable energy can be achieved.