Global energy demand surged in 2024, says IEA

Global energy demand grew by 2.2% in 2024, nearly double the average annual rate over the past decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its newly released Global Energy Review 2025. The report highlights that electricity consumption was the primary driver of this growth, powered largely by renewable energy and natural gas.

While global GDP grew by 3.2%, energy demand rose at a slightly lower pace, though significantly above the 1.3% yearly average from 2013 to 2023. Emerging and developing economies accounted for more than 80% of this increase, despite a slowdown in China where demand rose by less than 3%—half its growth rate from 2023.

Advanced economies also saw a return to energy demand growth, reversing several years of declines, with a modest 0.9% increase.

“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.”

Power sector drives growth

Electricity consumption worldwide rose by 4.3%, or nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours, marking one of the sharpest increases in recent memory. Contributing factors included:

• Record-high global temperatures, boosting demand for cooling
• Growing electricity use from industry, transport electrification, data centres, and AI technologies

To meet this demand, the world added 700 gigawatts of new renewable capacity, a new record for the 22nd consecutive year. Combined with nuclear power additions, low-emissions sources met 80% of the growth in electricity generation. Notably, renewables and nuclear accounted for 40% of total electricity generation in 2024 for the first time.

Natural gas and fossil fuel trends

Among fossil fuels, natural gas posted the strongest demand increase—up 115 billion cubic metres (2.7%), outpacing its recent decade-long average. Meanwhile, oil demand grew more slowly, by 0.8%, and its share of global energy demand fell below 30% for the first time in more than 50 years. This shift is largely attributed to the growing uptake of electric vehicles, which accounted for one in five new car sales globally in 2024.

Coal demand rose by 1%, driven primarily by heatwave-induced electricity use in China and India. These two countries alone contributed more than 90% of the global rise in coal consumption.

Carbon emissions rise slightly

Despite strong demand, the adoption of clean energy technologies helped to limit the rise in energy-related CO₂ emissions, which increased by just 0.8% to 37.8 billion tonnes. According to the IEA, expanded deployment of solar PV, wind, electric vehicles, and heat pumps has prevented around 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, equal to 7% of global emissions.

Emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1%, returning to levels last seen 50 years ago, despite their combined GDP being three times higher. The majority of emissions growth came from emerging economies, excluding China, where emissions growth also slowed. Nevertheless, China’s per capita emissions are now 16% higher than those of advanced economies and nearly double 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,” Birol said.