Global energy demand growth surged in 2024 to almost twice its recent average, driven by rapidly rising electricity use, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its global energy review 2025 report on March 23.

Most of the growth came from emerging and developing economies, but demand also rose in advanced economies after years of declines, the Executive Director of the IEA Fatih Birol said in a social media post.

“Global energy demand grew by 2.2% in 2024 – faster than the average rate over the past decade. Demand for all fuels and technologies expanded in 2024. The increase was led by the power sector as electricity demand surged by 4.3%, well above the 3.2% growth in global GDP, driven by record temperatures, electrification and digitalisation,” the report said. “Renewables accounted for most of the growth in global energy supply (38%), followed by natural gas (28%), coal (15%), oil (11%) and nuclear (8%).”

“Global electricity consumption rose by nearly 1,100 TWh in 2024, more than twice the annual average increase over the past decade. The increase – more than Japan’s annual electricity consumption – was the largest ever, [excepting] years when the global economy rebounded from recession. China made up more than half of the global increase in electricity demand, but the rise was broad-based, with growth of 4% in other emerging and developing economies. Electricity demand reached a new high in advanced economies,” the IEA said.

Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of global energy demand growth, says IEA. In China, growth in energy demand slowed to under 3% in 2024, half the rate in 2023 and well below the country’s average annual growth of 4.3% in recent years. Nevertheless, China still saw the largest demand growth in absolute terms of any country in 2024. India saw the second-largest rise in energy demand in absolute terms – more than the increase in all advanced economies combined.

Advanced economies also saw a notable return to growth in energy demand after several years of declines, with demand rising by almost 1%. The United States saw the third-largest absolute demand growth in 2024 after China and India. The European Union returned to growth for the first time since 2017 (aside from the post-Covid rebound in 2021).

As electricity use soared around the world for cooling, industry, EVs and data centres, all energy sources stepped up to meet rising energy demand. Renewables accounted for the largest share of demand growth, followed by natural gas.

 

China saw the largest increase in energy demand in absolute terms in 2024, but its rate of growth slowed to less than 3%, half the 2023 rate. The US saw the third biggest rise, and demand in the EU increased for the first time since 2017 (excluding the economic rebound from Covid).

Global oil demand growth slowed markedly in 2024, in line with the IEA’s forecast. Oil’s share of total energy demand fell below 30% for the first time ever, 50 years after peaking at 46%. Demand for oil rose by 0.8% in 2024, compared with a 1.9% increase in 2023. However, trends varied between sectors and regions. Oil demand from global road transport fell slightly, driven by declines in China (-1.8%) and advanced economies (-0.3%). Oil demand from aviation and petrochemicals grew.

Natural gas saw the biggest increase in demand in 2024 among fossil fuels, driven by higher power demand, in particular for cooling.

“Rising global electricity use was driven by factors such as increasing cooling demand resulting from extreme temperatures, growing consumption by industry, the electrification of transport and the expansion of the data centre sector. Electricity use in buildings accounted for nearly 60% of overall growth in 2024. The installed capacity of data centres globally increased by an estimated 20%, or around 15 GW, mostly in the United States and China. Meanwhile, the continued growth in the uptake of electric vehicles resulted in a rise in electricity use in transport. Global sales of electric cars rose by over 25%, surpassing 17mn units and accounting for one-fifth of all car sales, in line with the IEA’s projections for 2024,” the IEA said.

Demand increased by 2.7% in 2024, rising by 115bn cubic metres, compared with an average of around 75 bcm annually over the past decade. China had the largest absolute growth in gas demand in 2024 of over 7% (30 bcm), with growth also strong in other emerging and developing economies in Asia. Gas demand expanded by around 2% (20 bcm) in the United States. Consumption grew modestly in the European Union, notably for industrial use.

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The vast majority of global electricity demand growth in 2024 – more than 80% – was covered by low-emissions sources. This was supported by a huge expansion in renewable power capacity of around 700 GW, setting a new annual record for the 22nd year in a row.

“Together, renewables and nuclear contributed 40% of total generation for the first time, with renewables alone supplying 32%. New renewable installations hit record levels for the 22nd consecutive year, with around 700 GW of total renewable capacity added in 2024, nearly 80% of which was solar PV. Generation from solar PV and wind increased by a record 670 TWh, while generation from natural gas rose by 170 TWh and coal by 90 TWh. In the European Union, the share of generation provided by solar PV and wind surpassed the combined share of coal and gas for the first time. In the United States, solar PV and wind’s share rose to 16%, overtaking that of coal. In China, solar PV and wind reached nearly 20% of total generation,” says IEA.

In 2024, over 7 GW of nuclear power capacity was brought online, 33% more than in 2023. The new capacity added was the fifth-highest level in the past three decades. Electricity generation from nuclear in 2024 rose by 100 TWh, equalling the largest increase this century outside of the post-Covid rebound. Construction starts for nuclear power plants (NPPs) grew by 50% in 2024, exclusively using Chinese and Russian designs.

 

Global coal demand rose by 1%. Power generation was the main driver of growth as high temperatures pushed up electricity consumption for cooling. Intense heatwaves drove coal use higher in both China and India, which together represented the large majority of the global demand increase of around 65mn tonnes of coal equivalent (tce). China remained the largest coal consumer globally, accounting for a record 58% of global coal use.

Global CO2 emissions rose to a new record in 2024, but the rapid adoption of clean energy technologies is limiting their increase and loosening their link to economic growth. Solar, wind, nuclear, EVs and heat pumps deployed since 2019 now avoid 2.6bn tonnes per year (tpy) of emissions.

But growth in energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions continues to decouple from global economic growth. Emissions growth slowed to 0.8% in 2024, while the global economy expanded by more than 3%, according to IEA.

“The global increase of 300mn tonnes of CO2 was influenced by record high temperatures. If weather in 2024 had remained consistent with 2023, itself the second-hottest year on record, about half of the increase in global emissions would have been avoided. Still, the deployment of solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric cars and heat pumps since 2019 now prevents 2.6bn tonnes of CO2 annually, the equivalent of 7% of global emissions. Most emissions growth in 2024 came from emerging and developing economies outside China. Emissions growth in China slowed in 2024, though per-capita emissions are now 16% higher than in advanced economies and nearly twice the global average. Emissions in advanced economies fell by 1.1% to 10.9bn tonnes in 2024 – a level seen 50 years ago, when their GDP was more than three times smaller,” says IEA.

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The increasingly strong effects of temperatures on energy trends showed up clearly in the data. Extreme temperatures in 2024, the hottest year on record, drove 20% of growth in both gas and electricity demand, half of the rise in CO2 emissions and all of the increase in coal use.

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