President Trump has put the handbrake on wind expansion but is he missing a trick as he tries to bring energy costs down?
The US is already behind Europe on wind power and risks falling behind other major economies like China. Now Mr Trump has issued an executive order pausing all further development and sales of leases on federal land both onshore and off.
However a new report published by energy think tank Ember, shows wind is proving itself a good source of cheap clean power, helping nations bring down energy costs.
Last year, across the EU 17% of its electricity came from wind, remaining ahead of gas (16%) for the second year in a row – 11 EU countries generated more than a fifth of their electricity from wind – including Denmark (58%), Ireland (36%), Portugal (31%) and Germany (28%).
Here, in 2023, wind generated 29% of the country’s electricity, up from just 8% in 2013. This puts wind on the cusp of overtaking gas to become the largest source of British electricity.

Even China, which is still using plenty of coal and other fossil fuels, generated 9% of its electricity from wind in 2023, contributing 60% of global growth. Chinese data out last week showed 79 GW was installed in 2024, 57% of the global total.
In comparison, Ember’s analysis shows that the US generated 10% of its electricity from wind in 2023, just ahead of the global average.
China’s share of wind power is set to overtake the US in the coming years.
In total wind produced 7.8% of global electricity in 2023, nearly tripling since 2015.
Dave Jones, Insights Director at Ember warned: “The US is diverging from global trends on wind power. Major economies are embracing wind as a source of cheap, clean electricity. The US risks being left behind in the clean industrial revolution.”
Overall 32 countries generated more than a tenth of their electricity from wind power in 2023. Other wind leaders include Uruguay (36% in 2023), Kenya (16%) and Brazil (13%).
Even the world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, aims to move from zero renewables to half of its electricity from renewables by 2030, as it looks to phase out oil-fired generation.