LITTLETON, Colorado, Nov 10 (Reuters) - In the decade since the landmark COP21 Paris agreement aimed to limit global warming, both a lot and a little has changed when it comes to the energy sector makeup and the trajectory of emissions.

On the one hand, an explosion in renewable energy deployment and a surge in electric vehicle sales have upended global power and car markets and ushered in an ongoing "electrify everything" push across the planet.

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On the other hand, global output and use of coal, crude oil and natural gas have continued to climb to fresh records, along with resulting energy use emissions, which in 2024 were nearly 10% more than discharged in 2015.

Below are 10 key charts spanning the global energy mix and power pollution trends to help take stock of where things stand as the COP30 climate meetings get underway in Brazil.

FOSSIL FUELS STILL RULE THE ROOST

Total global energy supplies remain overwhelmingly fossil fuel-dependent, even after the fastest-ever rollout of clean energy supplies within a 10-year period.

Fossil fuels continue to account for around 87% of global energy supplies, thanks to historically high use of crude oil, coal and natural gas, data from the Energy Institute shows.

The good news for clean energy advocates is that the fossil fuel share is down from 89% in 2015, and will keep falling.

The bad news for climate trackers is that the momentum of global fossil fuel use remains to the upside, despite the curbing of coal-burning in many economies and the accelerating shift towards electrifying transport and industrial processes.

EVER-CLEANER ELECTRICITY

Clean energy supporters have more to cheer about when it comes to electricity production, where record growth in solar panels, wind farms and battery systems are lifting the share of clean power in generation mixes to record highs.

Global clean electricity supplies jumped by 22% from 2015 to 2024, data from Ember shows, while generation from fossil fuel sources has dropped by 11%.

The utility systems of Europe and Latin America both generate over 60% of electricity from clean power sources, while the global average is around 40% and rising.

RENEWABLES RISING

The global surge in renewable power generation has been the key story of the world energy systems so far this decade, and for good reason.

Between 2015 and 2024 there was a 68% surge in the consumption of electricity from renewable sources across all energy systems, which includes electricity networks and industrial power systems.

A nearly 700% surge in solar power output and a 200% jump in wind power supplies since 2015 have been the chief drivers of that renewables swell.

Regionally, Asia has dominated the rollout of both solar and wind technologies over the past decade, and in 2024 accounted for 45% of all renewable energy generation.

Europe is the second-largest renewables deployer, with a roughly 20% share, followed by North America, with an 18% share.

In terms of solar generation, Asia's share is closer to 60% of the global footprint, while Europe and North America are again the next-largest solar markets.

Asia also tops the world in wind power deployment.

EMISSIONS IMPACT

The rapid global ramp-up in renewables generation, alongside the longer-term reduction in coal-fired power production in several countries, has led to declines in energy emissions in North America and Europe since 2015.

Elsewhere, however, energy emissions trajectories remain on a rising path, especially in Asia, which accounted for 52% of all energy emissions last year, according to the Energy Institute.

At the country level, the United States has reduced its energy emissions by more than any other nation since 2015, followed by Japan and Germany.

However, even as the U.S., Japan, Germany and other major economies have taken steps to reduce their pollution from energy systems, their collective emissions cuts have been more than offset by the rising pollution trends elsewhere.

Indeed, China alone has boosted its energy pollution by more than the collective emissions cuts by the 20-largest economies to reduce emissions since 2015, Energy Institute data shows.

And when you add in the growing pollution tolls from the likes of India, Indonesia and Vietnam, it is clear the momentum of global energy pollution remains firmly to the upside for now.

BATTERY BOOM

The rapidly growing network of battery energy storage systems (BESS) could help slow the growth of energy emissions going forward, especially in nations with large footprints of solar production.

As with renewables generation, Asia dominates the deployment of utility-scale battery systems, thanks mainly to China's world-leading position as the top battery producer.

But the United States and Australia also boast hefty BESS capacity, which should help utilities make fuller use of their abundant solar assets by charging batteries during peak solar output periods and then dispatching that when demand rises.

In many areas, BESS deployment represents the next wave of the ongoing energy transition, and should help many major power systems make good on more of the commitments made at the Paris COP gathering a decade ago.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.

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