Energy demand is growing globally, even in the advanced economies that have embraced renewable sources and energy efficiencies.

After years of declines, rapid growth of electricity worldwide is driving up consumption of all forms of generation, including renewables, gas, coal and nuclear.

According to IEA analysis, global energy demand grew at a faster-than-average pace in 2024, with the increasing supply of renewables and natural gas covering the majority of additional energy needs.

The data comes from the latest edition of the IEA’s Global Energy Review, the first global assessment of 2024 trends across the energy sector. The report finds that global energy demand rose by 2.2 per cent last year, considerably faster than the average annual demand increase of 1.3 per cent between 2013 and 2023.

Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80 per cent of the increase in global energy demand in 2024. The acceleration in global energy demand growth in 2024 was led by the power sector, with global electricity consumption surging by nearly 1,100 TWh. The sharp increase in the world’s electricity use last year was attributed to 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.

The expanding supply of low-emissions sources covered most of the increase in global electricity demand in 2024. The amount of new renewable power capacity installed worldwide rose to around 70GW, setting a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year, and 80 per cent of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024 was provided by renewable sources and nuclear.

As a result of higher power consumption, natural gas saw the strongest increase in demand among fossil fuels in 2024. Gas demand rose by 115 billion cubic metres (bcm) compared with an average of around 75 bcm annually over the past decade.

CO2 emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1 per cent t 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. Though emissions growth in China slowed in 2024, the country’s per-capita emissions are now 16 per cent above those of advanced economies and nearly twice the global average.

---