Solar panels on sale at a shop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Credit: Wegmann/Wikimedia Commons

LONDON—A significant threshold has been crossed by renewable energy as analysts report that the sector’s size last year reached double the level it was at just 10 years earlier.

This expansion happened in a year when the global economy and energy use both grew, but without a matching rise in emissions of carbon dioxide—the main greenhouse gas targeted in efforts to restrain global warming.

The report by REN21, a global renewable energy policy network, says the result is an example of sustainable development. Despite the world’s annual 1.5% increase in energy consumption in recent years and 3% GDP growth last year, 2014’s CO2 emissions were unchanged from 2013’s total of 32.3 billion tonnes.

The report’s authors say this decoupling of economic and CO2 growth is due to China’s increased use of renewables and to efforts by OECD countries to promote more sustainable growth, including by increased energy efficiency and use of […]