Rapid Growth in Renewables Amid Global Fuel Demand Increase

New Delhi, March 24 (NationPress) The global demand for energy surged at an above-average rate in 2024, largely driven by a significant rise in electricity consumption worldwide. This surge was met with an increased supply of renewable energy and natural gas, which addressed the majority of the growing energy requirements, according to a new report from the IEA released on Monday.

The latest IEA Global Energy Review presents the inaugural global overview of the 2024 energy sector trends.

This comprehensive report analyzes energy demand, supply, adoption of new energy technologies, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions related to energy.

According to the report, global energy demand escalated by 2.2 percent last year, which is lower than the 3.2 percent GDP growth but significantly exceeds the 1.3 percent annual average increase recorded from 2013 to 2023. Notably, emerging and developing nations accounted for over 80 percent of the global energy demand increase in 2024. This growth occurred despite a slowdown in China, where energy consumption only grew by less than three percent, half of the 2023 rate and well below the country's recent average.

After several years of decline, advanced economies returned to growth, with their energy demand rising by nearly one percent overall.

The power sector led the acceleration in global energy demand growth in 2024, with worldwide electricity consumption soaring by almost 1,100 terawatt-hours, or 4.3 percent—nearly double the annual average of the previous decade. This significant rise in electricity use was primarily due to record high global temperatures that increased cooling requirements in various countries, alongside heightened industrial consumption, the electrification of transportation, and the expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence.

The growing supply of low-emissions sources effectively met most of the increased global electricity demand in 2024. Approximately 700 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity was installed globally, marking a new annual record for the 22nd consecutive year.

Additions to nuclear power capacity reached their fifth-highest level in three decades. Consequently, renewable sources and nuclear together accounted for 80 percent of the rise in global electricity generation in 2024, together contributing to 40 percent of total generation for the first time. The supply of natural gas-fired generation also steadily increased to meet the growing electricity demand.

“There are numerous uncertainties in the world today and various narratives surrounding energy; however, this new data-driven IEA report presents clear facts regarding global events,” stated IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

“What is clear is that electricity usage is expanding rapidly, propelling overall energy demand to such an extent that it is reversing years of declining energy consumption in advanced economies. Consequently, the demand for all major fuels and energy technologies rose in 2024, with renewables accounting for the largest portion of this growth, followed by natural gas. The robust expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power, and electric vehicles is increasingly separating economic growth from emissions,” he added.

Due to heightened power consumption, natural gas experienced the most substantial demand rise among fossil fuels in 2024, with demand increasing by 115 billion cubic meters (bcm), or 2.7 percent, compared to an average increase of approximately 75 bcm annually over the past decade.

Conversely, oil demand exhibited slower growth, rising by 0.8 percent in 2024. Oil’s share of total energy demand dipped below 30 percent for the first time ever, marking a 50-year decline from its peak of 46 percent.

Sales of electric vehicles surged by over 25 percent last year, with electric models representing one in five cars sold globally. This significantly contributed to the reduction in oil demand for road transport, counterbalancing much of the increase in oil consumption for aviation and petrochemicals.

Global coal demand increased by one percent in 2024, half the rate of growth recorded the previous year.

The report indicated that intense heatwaves in China and India—which amplified cooling demands—accounted for more than 90 percent of the total annual increase in coal consumption worldwide, underscoring the significant effects of extreme weather on energy demand trends.

The swift adoption of clean energy technologies constrained the annual rise in energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are increasingly dissociated from economic growth, according to the report.

Record high temperatures played a significant role in the annual 0.8 percent increase in global CO2 emissions, which reached 37.8 billion tonnes. However, the deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV), wind energy, nuclear power, electric vehicles, and heat pumps since 2019 now prevents the emission of 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 annually, equivalent to seven percent of global emissions.