The surge was primarily fueled by a sharp rise in electricity consumption worldwide
Global energy demand witnessed an accelerated increase in 2024, growing at nearly twice the average rate of the past decade, according to the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Energy Review.
The surge was primarily fueled by a sharp rise in electricity consumption worldwide, with renewables and natural gas meeting most of the additional demand.
The report reveals that global energy demand increased by 2.2% in 2024, outpacing the annual average growth of 1.3% recorded between 2013 and 2023.
Emerging and developing economies were responsible for over 80% of this increase, despite China’s energy consumption slowing to under 3% growth—half of its 2023 rate.
Advanced economies, which had seen declining energy demand in recent years, also recorded a slight rebound of nearly 1%.
Electricity consumption played a pivotal role in driving this growth, expanding by almost 1,100 terawatt-hours (4.3%)—nearly double the average annual increase over the past decade.
Extreme weather conditions, particularly record-breaking temperatures, contributed significantly to this surge, as cooling demand soared in various countries.
The growing adoption of electric vehicles, data centres, and artificial intelligence further fueled electricity demand.
Renewables and nuclear energy accounted for the majority of the additional power supply.
The deployment of new renewable energy capacity reached an all-time high of approximately 700 gigawatts, marking the 22nd consecutive record-breaking year.
Nuclear energy also saw its fifth-highest capacity expansion in the past 30 years.
Combined, these two energy sources contributed 80% of the increase in global electricity generation and, for the first time, accounted for 40% of total global electricity output.
“There are many uncertainties in the world today and different narratives about energy – but this new data-driven IEA report puts some clear facts on the table about what is happening globally,” said IEA executive director Dr. Fatih Birol. “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 2 by natural gas. And the strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power and EVs is increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions.”
Slowing emissions
Despite the overall rise in energy consumption, the report highlights a growing decoupling of carbon dioxide emissions from economic growth.
While global CO₂ emissions increased by 0.8% to reach 37.8 billion tonnes, the rapid expansion of clean energy technologies helped mitigate further emissions growth.
Since 2019, the deployment of solar PV, wind, nuclear power, electric vehicles, and heat pumps has prevented 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually—equivalent to 7% of global emissions.
Emissions from advanced economies declined by 1.1% in 2024, reaching levels last recorded five decades ago, even as their combined GDP has tripled over that period.
Most of the global emissions growth came from emerging and developing economies, excluding China. While China’s emissions growth slowed, the country’s per capita emissions now exceed those of advanced economies by 16% and are nearly twice the global average.
“From slowing global oil demand growth and rising deployment of electric cars to the rapidly expanding role of electricity and the increasing decoupling of emissions from economic growth, many of the key trends the IEA has identified ahead of the curve are showing up clearly in the data for 2024,” Dr. Birol said.
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