Some Great News About the Global Electricity System

Some Great News About the Global Electricity System

From Shift Key with Robinson Meyer by Heatmap News

May 1, 2026 · 41 min · Season 3 · Episode 45

About this episode

The episode discusses the positive trends in the global electricity system, focusing on clean power's growth and competition with fossil fuels.

Here’s some good news: Clean power met  all  electricity demand growth last year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to  a new report on global electricity trends  from Ember, a U.K. think tank that tracks energy data from around the world. The new review suggests that solar and batteries are continuing to remake the global power system — and outcompeting gas and coal in some of the world’s fastest growing economies. On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Nicolas Fulghum, the lead author of Ember’s new report and an energy and climate data analyst at the think tank. They discuss why solar keeps breaking records, whether India’s energy development trajectory has changed, and how the Iran War could change this year’s numbers. Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap News. You can find a complete transcript of the episode here . Mentioned: Ember’s  Global Electricity Review 2026 Previously on Shift Key:  Nobody in the West Knows How to Respond to the ‘Electrotech Revolution’ -- This episode of Shift Key is sponsored by ... Salesforce  is the No. 1 AI CRM, where…

People in this episode

Host: Robinson Meyer

Guest: Nicholas Fulghum

Topics covered

  • clean power
  • global electricity trends
  • solar energy
  • energy competition
  • climate change

Keywords

  • clean power
  • electricity demand
  • solar energy
  • Ember report
  • energy data

Sponsors

Salesforce

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Ember

More episodes of Shift Key with Robinson Meyer

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Shift Key with Robinson Meyer podcast page.