Ecuador
ECUEcuador has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
346 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2015, 159 in 2025.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Cleaner than 8 in 10 grids worldwide.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
Ecuador generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
Almost everything this grid runs on comes from inside the country.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of Ecuador
Ecuador has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 51% to 79% in 10 years.
Ecuador is third in Latin America and the Caribbean for hydro.
Hydro supplies 78% of its electricity.
Hydro overtook oil on Ecuador's grid in 2011.
Today hydro supplies 78% and oil 18%.
Ecuador’s neighbours
PeruPeru gets next to none of its electricity from oil, in a region built on it.
ColombiaColombia uses less electricity per person than any other country in the OECD.
PanamaGas overtook oil on Panama's grid in 2019.
Costa RicaCosta Rica generates no oil electricity at all, in a region built on it.
NicaraguaNicaragua has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for Ecuador. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.