Verify your email
Download the report
Return Visit — No Re-Verify Needed
This year’s data reflects a complex picture of the global energy transition. Electrification is accelerating, particularly in China, where access to low carbon energy solutions is expanding rapidly. However, globally the pace of renewable deployment is still being outstripped by overall energy demand growth, much of which continues to be met by fossil fuels. The world remains in an energy addition mode, rather than a clear transition. The result is a fourth consecutive year of record fossil fuel demand and CO2 emissions, highlighting the structural challenges in aligning global energy consumption with climate goals.Andy Brown OBE FEI, President, Energy Institute
For the first time since 2006, all major energy sources, renewables and fossil fuels alike, hit record consumption levels, a reflection of surging global demand. No country has shaped this outcome more than China. Its rapid expansion of renewable capacity, alongside continued reliance on coal, gas, and oil, is driving global energy trends. The scale and direction of China’s energy choices will be pivotal in determining whether the world can deliver a secure, affordable, and low-carbon energy future.Dr Nick Wayth CEng FEI FIMechE, Chief Executive, Energy Institute
Global energy supply increased 2% in 2024 driven by rises in demand across all forms of energy, with non-OECD countries dominating both the share and annual growth rates. Fossil fuels continue to underpin the energy system accounting for 86% of the energy mix.
Note: energy sources in the charts are ordered according to their carbon intensity.
Total energy demand increased across all regions, but the growth was far from evenly distributed, reflecting stark regional variations shaped by economic development, climate conditions, and energy policy.
North America and Europe exhibited the slowest growth rates at 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively. However, in absolute terms, Africa had the smallest increase in energy demand, at 0.29 EJ their increase in demand was less than 40% of Europe’s increased energy demand (0.73 EJ). The Asia Pacific region drove 65% of the global energy demand increase and is responsible for 47% of total global energy demand. Total renewable energy supply increased by 8%, of which China alone was responsible for more than the rest of the world combined (at 58%).
Global growth in electricity demand continues to outpace growth in total energy demand. All regions experienced significant growth in electricity demand in this new age of electricity, with Asia Pacific and the Middle East registering the greatest growth in electricity generation at 5.4% and 5.3%, respectively.
Since 2010 the world has avoided using 1,371 exajoules of fossil fuels and emitting 110 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions through renewables and nuclear
Back in 1990, renewables represented just 3% of the total global energy mix. Since then, the energy landscape has changed significantly as nations have sought to decarbonise their energy systems to tackle the effects of climate change. Since 2000, the annual growth rate of renewable energy has consistently been above that of all other forms of energy. Since 2006 their growth has averaged over four times that of the annual average growth rate of total global energy demand. Over the past five years, this has increased to over five times that rate. In recognition of the increasing contribution that renewables make to our everyday lives, starting in 2025, the way in which we measure total energy consumed has changed. The previous fossil-fuel equivalent (or substitution) method used to calculate Primary Energy Consumption made sense in a world fuelled almost entirely by oil, gas and coal but is no longer relevant to today’s energy system.
In this year’s edition, we have adopted the Physical Energy Content method to create a view of Total Energy Supply, a measure of the total amount of energy that a country needs to supply in order to meet its final end-use demand. It reflects the energy that is either produced domestically or imported, minus what is exported or stored. Some energy sources are consumed directly whilst others may be converted into fuels or electricity for final consumption with transmission, distribution, and efficiency losses impacting throughout the system.
The new approach has the advantage of quantifying the benefits that low and zero carbon energy have delivered in terms of reducing reliance on fossil fuels, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, and improving the overall efficiency of the energy system. For instance, to undertake the same amount of work as fossil fuels, technologies such as wind, solar, and hydro enable us to supply significantly less clean electricity. Consequently, in 2024, the global energy system was effectively 7% more efficient in terms of the total amount of energy that it needed to supply to meet end-use demand.
Since 2010 renewables and nuclear have avoided the use of 1,371 exajoules of fossil fuels, nearly two and a half times the entire energy supplied globally in 2024. In addition to avoiding the need to explore for and produce fossil fuels, around 109 gigatonnes of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided over this same period, 170% more than were emitted in 2024. The Asia Pacific region, underpinned by China which was responsible for nearly 60% of the renewable power supply additions in 2024, has been at the forefront of realising the benefits of transitioning from fossil fuels. It was responsible for 43% of avoided fossil fuel use in 2024 followed by Europe and North America at 21% and 20% respectively.
Investing in the energy transition also delivers energy security through reduced reliance on energy imports. This remains an untapped opportunity.
Over the past five years, the global energy system and international energy markets have been rocked by a series of seismic events causing supply chain disruption, energy supply shortages, record energy prices, and increased volatility across international markets. From COVID, conflict in Ukraine, heatwaves, droughts and floods intensified by climate change, to renewed tensions in the Middle East, vulnerabilities across every aspect of the energy system have been exposed. Where the energy transition initially focused on tackling climate change, these events have highlighted the need for resilient, decentralized, and clean energy systems. 2024 may well become seen as a beginning of a paradigm shift where the energy transition becomes increasingly associated with a need to deliver energy security through energy independence to protect countries from the types of shocks and uncertainty that such events bring.
Investment in renewables in particular is increasingly being seen as a cornerstone of energy security, enabling countries to disconnect their energy systems from global fuel markets and geopolitical tensions. Technologies such as wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal that draw on homegrown resources reduce the need to import energy from abroad. In addition, once built, they have low and predictable operating costs that shield economies from volatile international fossil fuel prices and bring stability to national budgets and household bills. Resilience is also improved through diversifying away from one or a limited number of energy sources or suppliers. As the world’s leading investor in renewable energy, China is at the forefront of realising such benefits. Whilst it is still heavily reliant on energy imports, they met around 25% of its total energy demand in 2024, renewables have helped it avoid importing around 87 exajoules over the past five years, more than Europe’s total energy demand in 2024. Europe itself, along with the US, have also avoided the need to import significant volumes of energy over this same period, 63 EJ and 34 EJ respectively. In sharp contrast, Japan and South Korea, economies with significant energy-intensive manufacturing bases and each reliant on energy imports for meeting over 90% of their total energy demand, have collectively only managed to avoid importing just under 10 EJ over the same five-year period. Whilst renewables were responsible for generating a third of the world’s electricity supply in 2024, they only met just over 8% of total global energy demand. Their potential to simultaneously deliver clean and independent energy systems for nations remains a vast, untapped opportunity.
In much the same way that renewables deliver energy security through energy independence, energy efficiency and demand reduction can have the same effect. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas pipeline supplies to Europe were severely disrupted. In response to shortages, record high gas prices, and demand response mechanisms that encouraged end-users to reduce their consumption, particularly of electricity where gas-fired power generation often sets wholesale electricity prices, gas demand in Europe fell 13% in 2022, completely reversing the 2021 post-COVD rebound gains and bringing demand back down to its 2015 levels.
However, whilst renewables can make a significant contribution to strengthening energy security, their deployment, particularly less dependable wind and solar, can, in turn, raise issues around electricity grid stability. Without careful strategic planning, energy security could be achieved at the expense of system stability. Countries such as Iceland, Bhutan, and Norway have already decarbonised a high proportion of their overall energy systems (85%, 80%, and 52% respectively). Moreover, others, such as Albania, Ethiopia, and Iceland have already achieved generation fleets that are 100% renewable. The dominant technologies in these instances are dependable forms of renewable generation such as hydro and geothermal. As countries increasingly deploy wind and solar technologies, their integration and expansion will need to be carefully planned to ensure that, when they start to make material contributions, essential ancillary services such as frequency response, voltage control, inertia, and operating reserves are maintained. Pairing them with energy storage, synthetic inertia technologies, smart grids, increased interconnection with other grid networks, and demand response offer ways to ensure the continued stability and resilience of electricity grids.
For the 2025 Statistical Review of World Energy, we are changing the way we calculate total primary energy consumption by moving to an updated methodology: total energy supply.
