It marked the first drop in six years, with some analysts saying it was the first time on record that coal generation dropped at the same time as power demand rose.

Coal has been China's key power generation source for decades and a key driver of its planet-warming emissions.

But coal's share in the country's energy mix has edged down in recent years due to explosive growth in renewable installation.

Coal-fired power generation decreased by 1.9 percent in 2025 compared with a year earlier, despite electricity consumption rising five percent, according to the China Electricity Council (CEC), a national trade association for the power industry.

Clean energy including wind, solar, and biomass absorbed much of the demand, accounting for 97.1 percent of new electricity consumption last year, the CEC said in a report.

Official and industry data reviewed by AFP suggests the drop in coal power generation is the first decline since at least 2019, and likely earlier.

Before 2019, official statistics measured coal power generation together with gas and oil, making it difficult to compare annual figures for coal alone.

But Lauri Myllyvirta at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said his analysis showed the decline was the first since 2015.

But that drop was caused by slower electricity demand following the 2008 financial crisis.

In 2025 however, "growth in power generation from solar, wind, and nuclear covered all of the growth in demand, and a rebound in hydropower generation helped push down the use of gas", Myllyvirta told AFP.

- Clean energy absorbing demand -

That also helped push down annual carbon dioxide emissions in the power generation sector, he said.

China installed a record 315 gigawatts of solar power and 119 gigawatts of wind power capacity last year -- over 80 percent of total newly installed power generation capacity, according to the CEC.

But the country still added around 93 gigawatts of gas and coal power capacity in 2025, 75 percent more than in 2024, according to official data.

Coal accounted for 51 percent of total power generation in 2025, down nearly 10 percentage points since 2020, the CEC added.

China aims to peak its carbon emissions by 2030, cutting them at least seven percent by 2035 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.