Renewable energy now accounts for 23 percent of global power generation

Renewable energy sources.
(Image credit: ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

More than half of new power capacity added worldwide last year came from renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, beating fossil fuels like coal and natural gas for the first time ever, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. Renewables now represent 23 percent of global power generation and are projected to grow to 28 percent by 2021.

China's aggressive efforts to embrace wind and solar accounts for as much as 40 percent of the shift, TIME reports, and many countries have been introducing similar clean energy protocols to phase out high-polluting fossil fuels like coal. Overall, the price of solar power has dropped 70 percent over the last decade and continues to do so.

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