Renewables meet most growth as global energy demand surges in 2024: IEA

Global energy demand surged to almost twice its recent average last year amid rising electricity consumption, with renewables meeting the largest share of the new energy needs, the International Energy Agency said.

Emerging and developing economies accounted for more than four-fifths of the increase, although energy consumption in China grew by 3%, less than half of its 2023 rate. Advanced economies after several years of declines also returned to growth, with demand rising by almost 1%.

“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,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

“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.”

The power sector led overall energy demand growth in 2024, with global power consumption surging by nearly 1,100 terawatt hours, or 4.2%, amid record global temperatures that boosted demand for cooling in many countries and rising consumption from industry, the electrification of transport and the growth of data centres and artificial intelligence.

Low-emission sources covered most of the increase in the global electricity sector, with renewable power capacity additions worldwide surging to about 700GW.

Solar PV accounted for over three-quarters of that, followed by wind with 17% and hydro-power with 4%. Bioenergy, geothermal, concentrating solar power and marine accounted for the remainder.

China accounted for two-thirds of all global renewables additions, while the US, India, Brazil and Germany also saw high installation rates.

Nuclear power capacity additions reached their fifth-highest level in the past three decades. As a result, four-fifths of the increase in worldwide power generation last year was provided by renewable sources and nuclear, which together contributed 40% of total generation for the first time.