Pakistan is undergoing a remarkable solar revolution: "The kind of numbers that change the world"

At COP30, I learned about an unexpected leader in the solar revolution: Pakistan! Across Pakistan, people are meeting the need for reliable, affordable energy by installing solar panels on homes, businesses, mosques, and other buildings. Pakistan’s solar transition is so fast that it’s being called a “phenomenon,” “unprecedented,” and a “stand out,” and it’s being recognized around the world! 

Pakistan is becoming a global leader in solar energy. Households are installing solar at breakneck rates. In only six years, solar has gone from 0 to 30% of Pakistan’s energy supply. Experts estimate that an astonishing 15 gigawatts of solar capacity was installed in 2024 alone—half of the country’s peak power demand of 30 gigawatts! 

Pakistan’s solar boom is almost entirely a grassroots movement. There are few large-scale solar farms in the nation; rather, individual households and communities are installing solar themselves, using TikTok videos to spread the word on how to do it. Chinese-made solar panels are now available at very low costs, making solar available to a much wider swath of the population. In the face of high electricity prices and an unreliable grid, solar energy in Pakistan is both affordable and desirable. So much solar was installed that diesel sales dropped 35% in Pakistan in one year (from 2023-2024). As Bill McKibben said about this, “Those are the kind of numbers that change the world!”