- Firm
- Provisional
- Coming soon
- Revised
- Firm
- Provisional
- Coming soon
- Revised
How well are we doing?
Editor's note: We have recently refreshed and updated our data for all countries on the platform, as we revised the 21 policies we cover.
Over a third of all greenhouse gas emissions come from generating energy, the largest contribution from any sector of the economy. Having a clean energy policy, therefore, must be a priority for any country taking climate change seriously. Since most energy is produced by burning fossil fuels, clean energy policy requires both supporting green alternatives like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, and finding ways to disincentivise coal, oil, and gas use.
National adoption of clean energy policies reflect a belief – still prevalent at government levels – that all we need to achieve a green economy is windfarms and solar panels. It is therefore less surprising that support for clean energy was amongst the top five strongest of all our policy areas, and all 41 countries surveyed had aspirational targets for renewables in place.
Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States had amongst the weakest approaches. The USA shows a marked decline in our latest analysis, performing lowest among the 41 countries assessed due to the systematic dismantling of clean energy policies, reversal of key commitments and cutting of clean energy incentives since 2025. Meanwhile, China, Senegal, Türkiye, and India are amongst those demonstrating clear ambition for a clean energy transition.
But the strongest policy frameworks come from Costa Rica and Sweden which have combined ambitious targets with consistent policy support for clean energy – helped by both countries’ ample hydropower reserves - and with Sweden now including an ambitious 2030 commitment towards renewable use in their transport sector.
The aim... is to produce energy and electricity in as sustainable way as possible. But it is also about creating an ecosystem and improving the well-being of our citizens.
About this policy
Electricity generation is a big part of clean energy policy, but far from the only one of significance. We also use energy to heat and cool our homes, cook our food, and power our transport. Providing clean and renewable alternatives in all these areas and technologies is necessary – and cheaper in the long run – but governments will need to make investments early in order to drive change.
Clear targets for pushing carbon intensive electriticy generation sources out of the mix is an important first step, and many countries have seen renewable energy capacity additions scale up dramatically in the 2020s. But having a target for renewable energy doesn’t mean much without a credible clean energy investment plan that will provide funds for new grid and generation infrastructure, research, and market incentives.
The weakest approaches to national clean energy policy will have minimal financial support and no targets for renewable energy, or very minimal targets for the overall energy sector. More ambitious policies will have short term renewables targets for some sectors – most often, electricity – perhaps with limited funding for new installation. The best policies will set bold targets for renewable energy in final energy consumption across the entire economy, including buildings and transport; set out a clear medium and long-term policy pathway to 2050; provide substantial investment and financial incentives; and lock in stable policy support to accelerate deployment of renewables and reduce fossil fuel consumption.
Case Study: Costa Rica
In the last few years, Costa Rica has produced almost all of its electricity from renewable sources – largely from hydro, wind and geothermal power. Costa Rica’s Clean Energy Plan intends to maintain this even as demand for energy increases as the country develops. However, transport and energy more broadly is still reliant on fossil fuel sources; demonstrating that clean energy is not just about solar panels and wind farms, renewables still make up less than a quarter of the nation’s total energy use. The focus on transportation in the 2019 Decarbonisation Plan aims to address this in the future.
Case Study: Morocco
The Kingdom of Morocco was an early and enthusiastic champion of solar power, as spiralling costs for imported fossil fuels – as well as the political ramifications of the Arab Spring – prompted new thinking on energy, employment and social welfare. When launched in 2009, the Morocco Solar Plan was the most ambitious on the planet, and the country now boasts the world’s largest concentrated solar farm at Ouarzazate. Well on its way to achieving its target of 52% renewables by 2030, Morocco is turning its vast, mountainous and virtually uninhabited deserts into productive natural resources – and potentially even a new export industry.
Morocco Country Profile