Global energy use surged in 2024, and a new report from the International Energy Agency offers the clearest picture yet of why.
In its new Global Energy Review, the IEA reports that global energy demand grew by 2.2% last year, which is well above the 1.3% annual average of the previous decade.
The biggest driver of this increase was electricity use, fueled by "emerging and developing economies," along with record-breaking heat waves that sent air conditioner use soaring, more data centers, and more electric vehicles (though the report also noted that EVs and other clean tech have significantly reduced demand for dirty energy that creates heat-trapping pollution).
The surge even reversed a long-running trend: Advanced economies such as the U.S. and parts of Europe, which had seen energy use decline for years, are using more again.
"This new data-driven IEA report puts some clear facts on the table about what is happening globally. … 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 in a statement.
To keep up, more affordable energy sources such as solar and wind are playing a major role. Together with nuclear, renewable sources made up 80% of the increase in global electricity generation in 2024, per the report. And, for the first time ever, they provide 40% of all electricity worldwide.
Other reports corroborate this data, including the Canadian Renewable Energy Association's recent announcement that solar, wind, and battery storage in Canada jumped by nearly 50% in five years.
This momentum has ripple effects. Electricity demand pushed gas use significantly higher, though the growth in oil demand slowed. This is partly because 1 in 5 new cars sold last year were electric, according to the IEA.
Even with the world's economy growing, harmful carbon emissions from energy use rose only slightly and fell by 1.1% in advanced countries.
Another recent study found that if we go all in on clean energy, we could cut energy costs by nearly 60% and certain pollution-related social impacts, including on health, by more than 90%.
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"The strong expansion of solar, wind, nuclear power and EVs is increasingly loosening the links between economic growth and emissions," Birol added.
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