INDUSTRY REPORT confirmed the IEA, the largest focus has been placed on renewables and nuclear. Since 2010, around 20 new countries have adopted new policies aimed at expanding renewable energy capacity, bringing the total to over 100 countries as of last year.
Growth in global energy demand
Demand in advanced economies is rising again after years of declines, with rapid growth of electricity worldwide driving up consumption of renewables, gas, coal and nuclear. According to a March 2025 report from the International Energy Agency( IEA), global energy demand grew at a faster-than-average pace in 2024 as the consumption of electricity rose around the world— with increased supply of renewables and natural gas covering the majority of additional energy needs.
The report found that global energy demand rose by 2.2 % last year; lower than GDP growth of 3.2 % but considerably faster than the average annual demand increase of 1.3 % between 2013 and 2023. Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80 % of the increase in global energy demand in 2024. This was despite slower growth in China, where energy consumption rose by less than 3 %, half its 2023 rate and well below the country’ s recent annual average. After several years of declines, advanced economies saw a return to growth, with their energy demand increasing by almost 1 % in aggregate.
“ The acceleration in global energy demand growth in 2024 was led by the power sector, with global electricity consumption surging by nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours, or 4.3 %. This was nearly double the annual average over the past decade. The sharp increase in the world’ s electricity use last year was driven by record global temperatures, which boosted demand for cooling in many countries, as well as by rising consumption from industry, the electrification of transport, and the growth of data centres and artificial intelligence,” said the IEA.
The expanding supply of lowemissions sources covered most of the increase in global electricity demand in 2024, added the report. The amount of new renewable power capacity installed worldwide rose to around 700 gigawatts, setting a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year. Nuclear power capacity additions reached their fifthhighest level in the past three decades. As a result, 80 % of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024 was provided by renewable sources and nuclear, which together contributed 40 % of total generation for the first time. The supply of natural gas-fired generation also increased steadily to cover rising electricity demand.
“ What is certain is that electricity use is growing rapidly, pulling overall energy demand along with it to such an extent that it is enough to reverse years of declining energy consumption in advanced economies. The result is that demand for all major fuels and energy technologies increased in 2024, with renewables covering the largest share of the growth, followed by natural gas. And the strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power and EVs is increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions,” said IEA Executive Director, Fatih
Birol.
As a result of higher power consumption, said the IEA, natural gas saw the strongest increase in demand among fossil fuels in 2024. Gas demand rose by 115 billion cubic metres( bcm), or 2.7 %, compared to an average of around 75bcm annually over the past decade. According to the IEA, oil demand grew more slowly, rising by 0.8 % in
2024.
“ Oil’ s share of total energy demand fell below 30 % for the first time ever, 50 years after it peaked at 46 %. Sales of electric cars rose by over 25 % last year, with electric models accounting for one in five cars sold globally. This contributed considerably to the decline in oil demand for road transport, which offset a significant proportion of the rise in oil consumption for aviation and petrochemicals,” confirmed the IEA report.
“ Global coal demand rose by 1 % in 2024, half the rate of increase seen the previous year. According to the report, intense heatwaves in China and India— which pushed up cooling needs— contributed more than 90 % of the total annual increase in coal consumption globally, highlighting the major impacts that extreme weather can have on energy demand patterns,” added the IEA.
The continued rapid adoption of clean energy technologies limited the annual rise in energy-related carbon dioxide( CO₂) emissions, which are increasingly decoupling from economic growth, according to the report. Record temperatures contributed significantly to the annual 0.8 % rise in global CO₂ emissions to 37.8 billion tonnes. But the deployment of solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric cars and heat pumps since 2019 now prevents 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually, the equivalent of 7 % of global emissions.
“ CO₂ emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1 % to 10.9- billion tonnes in 2024, a level last seen 50 years ago, even though the cumulative GDP of these countries is now three times as large. The majority of emissions growth in 2024 came from emerging and developing economies other than China. Although emissions growth in China slowed in 2024, the country’ s per-capita emissions are now
Policies aimed at diversifying countries’ energy mixes have also been implemented at an accelerated rate over the past two decades
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