Global energy demand grew at a faster pace than usual in 2024, with electricity consumption soaring and renewables leading the charge.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s Global Energy Review, there was a 2.2% increase in energy demand last year—well above the decade-long average of 1.3%.
The biggest drivers were record-breaking global temperatures pushing up demand for cooling, the rapid growth of AI and data centres, and the continued electrification of transport.
Developing nations demand rises
Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of this demand spike.
China’s energy consumption rose by less than 3%, just half its 2023 rate, reflecting a slowdown in its economy. However, advanced economies bucked recent trends, seeing energy demand climb by almost 1% after years of decline.
“The rise we saw in 2024 was higher than we expected,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
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.”
Fatih Birol, IEA
Renewables and Nuclear
A record 700GW of new renewable power capacity was installed in 2024, marking the 22nd consecutive year of expansion.
For the first time, renewables and nuclear combined contributed 40% of the world’s electricity generation.
Nuclear power also had a strong year, with the fifth-highest level of new capacity added in three decades.
Natural gas played a significant role in meeting rising demand, with consumption up 2.7%—far above its annual average increase. Meanwhile, coal use climbed 1%, with China and India accounting for more than 90% of the global rise as extreme heatwaves drove up air conditioning demand.
Oil demand, however, saw a more modest 0.8% increase, with its share of total energy demand falling below 30% for the first time in half a century.
EVs help cut emissions
The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) played a major role in this decline. EV sales jumped by over 25% in 2024, making up one in five new cars sold globally. The shift to EVs significantly cut oil consumption for road transport, offsetting increased demand from aviation and petrochemical industries.
Despite the continued dominance of fossil fuels, the accelerating adoption of clean technologies helped limit the growth of CO2 emissions.
Global energy-related emissions rose by just 0.8%, reaching 37.8 billion tonnes, but the IEA noted that without renewables, nuclear, EVs and heat pumps, emissions would have been far higher.
Since 2019, the deployment of these clean technologies has prevented 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 annually—equivalent to 7% of global emissions.
Advanced economies saw their emissions fall by 1.1%, reaching levels last seen 50 years ago, despite their GDPs being three times larger than they were then.
Most of the emissions growth in 2024 came from emerging and developing economies outside of China.
While China’s emissions growth slowed, the country’s per capita emissions are now 16% higher than those of advanced economies and nearly double the global average.
Future trends
With electricity demand accelerating and the clean energy transition gathering momentum, 2024 marked a pivotal year for global energy markets.
Renewables, nuclear and EVs are reshaping how power is generated and consumed – but with fossil fuels still playing a major role, the challenge remains in driving faster decarbonisation while meeting growing energy needs, says the report.
