IEA says 2024 energy demand growth nearly doubled

Emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of the increase, despite slower growth in China.

The increase is due to increasing electricity use, with more renewables and natural gas covering most additional energy needs, the International Energy Agency reports.

The Global Energy Review 2025 finds energy demand to have risen by 2.2% last year, lower than the 3.2% global GDP growth but faster than the annual demand increase of 1.3% from 2013-2023.

Advanced economies increased their energy use by almost 1% in aggregate, after several years of declines.

The full report notes that record temperatures have boosted cooling demand, contributing significantly to the 0.8% rise in global carbon dioxide emissions, to 37.8Bt.

However, the use of solar PV, wind, nuclear, electric cars and heat pumps since 2019 is said to prevent 2.6Bt of CO₂ annually, the equivalent of 7% of global emissions.