Despite record additions, clean energy sources could not fully meet a surge in electricity demand in 2024, driven mainly by the effects of rising temperatures, an annual review by the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed on Monday.

Renewables and nuclear energy provided four-fifths of the rise in electricity generation, which increased by 4% last year – marking “a significant acceleration” from the average annual growth seen in the last 15 years, the IEA said. The rest of the growth was covered by coal – still the largest source in the total global electricity mix – and by an expanding supply of fossil gas power.

Record temperatures push up power demand

Soaring use of cooling technologies like air conditioning in response to extreme heat was a key factor in the growing appetite for electricity, especially in China and India, which are heavy users of coal power, the IEA said.

Last year was the hottest on record and the global average temperature for 2024 exceeded the Paris Agreement benchmark of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

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Growing electricity consumption by industry, the rollout of electric vehicles and the expansion of data centres also drove power demand, the Paris-based watchdog said.

Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said in a briefing on Monday that “even though oil and gas will remain essential energy carriers, we hear the footsteps of the age of electricity coming”.

He also noted that demand for all major fuels and energy technologies rose in 2024 as a result of rapidly growing electricity use.

World uses more coal, gas and renewables

Power generation from solar panels and wind turbines increased at a record pace thanks to a rapid rate of new installations, while nuclear power output was boosted by new projects and the restarting of reactors in France and Japan, the report noted.

But electricity generation from fossil gas and coal kept growing and, overall, fossil fuels still represented 60% of the global electricity mix last year.

While almost all regions saw an acceleration in electricity consumption, China and Southeast Asia saw the fastest increases in 2024, according to the IEA report.

After a decline in 2023, advanced economies led by the United States saw a return to growth in electricity consumption driven by strong demand for cooling, growth in the data-centre sector and a pickup in industrial production.

China continued to lead global expansion of renewables, making up almost two-thirds of all
renewable capacity connected to the grid in 2024. The United States, India and Brazil also saw record levels of solar photovoltaic roll-outs last year.

But intense heatwaves pushed coal and gas use higher in both China and India, while the United States and Eurasia also saw strong increases in gas demand for electricity, the IEA report noted.

Energy-related emissions still rising

Rising gas and coal use fuelled a 0.8% increase in global carbon dioxide emissions generated by the energy sector in 2024, the IEA said – but trends varied widely across regions.

While energy-related emissions dipped in advanced economies, whose growth has become less polluting, the decline was outweighed by marked increases in emerging economies – especially India – and the international aviation sector.

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Speaking to journalists, Laura Cozzi, the IEA’s director of sustainability, noted that planet-heating emissions could have been exponentially higher without the rapid adoption of clean technologies – a development that is keeping 2.6 gigatonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

“Those are fossil fuels that are being displaced,” she said, adding that the transition is moving “very fast” in the electricity sector.

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Electricity demand surges, expanding renewables and fossil fuels in 2024