Global Energy Review 2025: Electricity Pulled Every Fuel Up in 2024. Heat, Not Data Centres, Was the Surprise

The International Energy Agency's Global Energy Review 2025, published on 24 March, is the first comprehensive assessment of energy trends in 2024, and its central finding is simple: electricity is now driving global energy demand. World energy demand rose by 2.2 per cent last year, below GDP growth of 3.2 per cent but considerably faster than the average annual increase of 1.3 per cent between 2013 and 2023. Electricity consumption grew by nearly 1,100 terawatt hours, or 4.3 per cent, almost double the average of the past decade.

Demand for every major fuel and energy technology increased, with renewables covering the largest share of the growth, followed by natural gas. Much public discussion has focused on data centres and artificial intelligence as the reason for rising electricity demand. Emerging and developing economies accounted for more than 80 per cent of the increase in global energy demand in 2024, even though China's growth slowed. Natural gas demand grew by 115 billion cubic metres, or 2.7 per cent, well above the average annual increase of around 75 billion cubic metres over the past decade, largely because of higher power demand.

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 0.8 per cent to a record 37.8 billion tonnes, with record temperatures contributing significantly. Cooling demand peaks at the hottest times of day and year, often in the late afternoon and evening when solar output is declining. Gas was the second largest source of new supply in 2024, and much of that growth was in power generation, where gas plants provide flexible capacity to meet peaks. Data centres are an important driver in some advanced economies and China, and their local effects on grids can be severe. The Global Energy Review 2025 confirms that electricity is the engine of energy demand growth and that clean sources are meeting most of it.