2025 Energy Review: A World of Records, Risks, and Renewable Shifts

The latest Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 by the Energy Institute in collaboration with KPMG & Kearney shows a global energy system pulled in competing directions electrifying fast, but fossil fuels are far from fading.

Here are the numbers and narratives that matter:

🔥 Emissions Hit a Record AGAIN

• Global CO₂e emissions rose 1% in 2024, reaching a record 40.8 GtCO₂e.
• China & India together accounted for 62% of the emissions increase.
• Yet the US saw a second straight year of emissions decline (-0.7%).

⚡ Electrification Is Accelerating

• Electricity demand grew 4%, outpacing total energy demand (2%).
• Asia Pacific drove 68% of global demand growth; now responsible for 47% of global energy use.

🌞 Renewables Are Soaring, But So Are Fossils

• Wind & solar grew 16%, nearly 9x faster than total energy demand.
• China alone added more renewable energy than the US, EU, and India combined.
• Despite this, fossil fuels still supply 87% of global energy and grew 1.2% in 2024.

🛢️ Oil Still Reigns

• Oil met 34% of global energy demand, breaching 101 million barrels/day for the first time.
• US is now the top oil producer, matching the combined output of Saudi Arabia & Russia.

🌬️ Gas is Back

• Global gas consumption rose 2.5%, with Asia Pacific accounting for 42 bcm of the growth.
• China’s domestic production now meets 56% of its gas demand.

🏭 Coal: A Regional Story

• Global coal demand reached 165 EJ, with 83% of it from Asia Pacific.
• China still generates 58% of its electricity from coal, even as it leads in renewables.

🔋 Energy Storage Doubled

• Grid-scale battery storage rose 113% to 126 GW.
• China owns 60% of global BESS capacity; US follows at 20%.

🌐 Efficiency and Avoidance

• Renewables & nuclear helped avoid 110 GtCO₂e emissions since 2010—2.5x 2024 global emissions.
• The world avoided using 1,371 EJ of fossil fuels thanks to clean energy.
• Net system efficiency improved by 7% in 2024 alone.

💰 Energy Security = Renewables

• China avoided importing 87 EJ of energy in 5 years via renewables.
• Yet renewables only meet just 8% of total energy demand—showing a massive untapped opportunity.

🏆 Top Countries in Clean Power (2024)
• 🇮🇸 Iceland: 85% clean energy
• 🇧🇹 Bhutan: 80% clean energy
• 🇳🇴 Norway, 🇺🇾 Uruguay, 🇳🇿 NZ: >50% clean energy
• 🇩🇰 Denmark & 🇩🇯 Djibouti: >60% power from wind & solar

Conclusion: We are in an age of “energy addition,” not transition—renewables are booming, but so are fossil fuels. The shift is happening, but it’s messy, regionally uneven, and driven as much by geopolitics and resilience as by climate targets.

Source:

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