Global energy demand jumped 2.2% in 2024—outpacing the past decade’s average (1.3%) but lagging behind GDP growth (3.2%). The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that rising electricity use drove the surge, with renewables and natural gas covering most of the additional demand.
According to IEA’s Global Energy Review published this week, emerging and developing economies accounted for over 80% of the increase in global energy demand in 2024. This was despite slower growth in China, where energy consumption rose by less than 3%, half its 2023 rate and well below the country’s recent annual average.
Additionally, advanced economies saw a return to growth after several years of declines with their energy demand increasing by almost 1% in aggregate.
High temperatures stimulated energy demand
Data from IEA’s report show that electricity consumption surged by nearly 1,100 terawatt-hours, or 4.3%. This was nearly double the annual average over the past decade.
The sharp increase in the world’s electricity use last year according to the IEA 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.
“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,” Birol added.
Slow down in fossil fuel demand
Natural gas demand grew the fastest among fossil fuels last year, rising by 115 bcm (2.7%), well above the decade’s average, due to higher power consumption. Meanwhile, oil demand increased by just 0.8%, falling below 30% of total energy demand for the first time—down from its 46% peak 50 years ago—as electric car sales surged by over 25%, accounting for 20% of global car sales and offsetting much of oil’s growth in aviation and petrochemicals. Coal demand rose by 1%, half the previous year’s rate, with China and India driving over 90% of the increase due to heatwave-driven cooling needs, underscoring extreme weather’s impact on energy trends.
The rapid expansion of clean energy technologies—such as solar, wind, nuclear, electric vehicles, and heat pumps—has helped curb energy-related CO₂ emissions, which grew just 0.8% in 2024 to 37.8 billion tonnes despite record temperatures boosting demand. Since 2019, these technologies now prevent 2.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually (7% of global emissions). Advanced economies saw emissions drop by 1.1% to 50-year lows, even as their GDP tripled, while emerging economies (excluding China) drove most of the global increase. Although China’s emissions growth slowed, its per-capita emissions now exceed advanced economies by 16% and are 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,” Dr Birol concluded.
