Growth in global energy demand surged in 2024 to almost twice its recent average

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, according to a new IEA report.

The latest edition of the IEA’s Global Energy Review, published today, is the first global assessment of 2024 trends across the energy sector. Based on the most recent data, it covers energy demand, supply, the uptake of new energy technologies and energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The report finds that global energy demand rose by 2.2 per cent last year – lower than GDP growth of 3.2 per cent but 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. This was despite slower growth in China, where energy consumption rose by less than 3 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent. 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.

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 700 gigawatts, setting a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year. Nuclear power capacity additions reached their fifth highest level in the past three decades. As a result, 80 per cent of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024 was provided by renewable sources and nuclear, which together contributed 40 per cent of total generation for the first time. The supply of natural gas-fired generation also increased steadily to cover rising electricity demand.

“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 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 by natural gas. And the strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power and EVs is increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions.”

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), or 2.7 per cent, compared with an average of around 75 bcm annually over the past decade.

Meanwhile, oil demand grew more slowly, rising by 0.8 per cent in 2024. Oil’s share of total energy demand fell below 30 per cent for the first time ever, 50 years after it peaked at 46 per cent. Sales of electric cars rose by over 25 per cent 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.

Global coal demand rose by 1 per cent 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 per cent of the total annual increase in coal consumption globally, highlighting the major impacts extreme weather can have on energy demand patterns.

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 per cent 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 per cent of global emissions.

CO₂ emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1 per cent 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. 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.

“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.