While renewable energy adoption has grown significantly in many countries, progress remains limited across several high-emission sectors that are difficult to electrify, according to data released by ClarityAI to coincide with Earth Day 2025.
The data forms part of a report examining trends since 2020 in renewable energy usage among MSCI ACWI companies headquartered in the top 10 countries for renewable energy generation. According to the report, meeting the global Earth Day target of tripling renewable energy generation by 2030 will require accelerated efforts to enable uptake across all sectors, especially the most carbon-intensive.
Companies headquartered in Brazil have increased their use of renewable energy by 32% since 2020, with the country boasting the second-highest share of renewable energy use among companies analysed. Meanwhile, Spanish companies currently lead in overall usage, with renewable energy making up nearly 60% of their total consumption.
In contrast, the current 29% renewable energy share in the US remains insufficient in the context of global decarbonisation goals, and progress has been far more limited in traditionally fossil-fuel-dependent economies such as China. There, corporate renewable energy use has grown by just seven percentage points since 2020 – a concerningly slow rate, especially when coupled with ongoing challenges in industrial electrification.
At the sector level, financial services and the IT & communications sector have nearly doubled their renewable energy use since 2020. The financial sector rose from 32% to over 53%, while IT & communications increased from 23% to almost 45%, demonstrating that when electrification is technically feasible, the transition to renewables can happen swiftly and efficiently, the report concluded.
In contrast, energy-intensive sectors, such as fossil fuels materials, industrials and real estate, have made far slower progress due to their dependence on direct fuel inputs for heating and industrial processes, which are much harder to electrify. For example, the fossil fuels and materials sectors increased their renewable energy use only modestly, from 12% to 18%. The real estate sector rose from 13% to 20% over the same period.
“These industries are structurally more challenging to decarbonise, yet are critical for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, as they account for 75% of global emissions”, stated Andrés Olivares, senior manager of product research and innovation at Clarity AI. “Without substantial investment in infrastructure and electrification technologies, the global ambition of a net-zero economy will remain out of reach.”
Near-term clean energy supply bottlenecks are likely, despite calls for infrastructure and electrification gaining momentum across policy arenas. Currently, electricity accounts for only around one-third of the energy mix in European industry. The challenge is similar in the United States, where electricity represents just over 20% of the energy mix, while oil products still account for 47% of total energy consumption.
“As a global community, we’re progressing, but the data shows we’re only halfway there,” added Olivares. “Generating more clean energy isn’t enough if we want to achieve the necessary emissions reductions. We need to develop the infrastructure to use it effectively, especially in the most energy-intensive sectors. Powering the Earth differently is not enough. We must also build it to run differently.”
