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Coal
Global coal demand to remain on a plateau in 2025 and 2026
Despite unusual trends across several major markets in the first half of 2025, global coal demand is likely to remain broadly unchanged to 2027 as underlying structural drivers of the world’s coal use remain stable.
Global coal demand increased to a new all-time high in 2024 of around 8.8 billion tonnes, up 1.5% from 2023, as rising consumption in China, India, Indonesia and other emerging economies more than offset declines in advanced economies in Europe, North America and northeast Asia. However, several of those…
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Competitiveness
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores competitiveness. Why is energy efficiency important for competitiveness? Increasing energy efficiency can improve competitiveness at both the firm level – by reducing costs, improving operations and increasing product value – and at the country level, by reducing the amount of energy required to produce economic output. Key facts Today the world’s industries produce nearly 20% more value added with a given amount of energy, compared with two decades ago. In the industrial sector, energy management can lead to more than 10% in annual energy cost savings within…
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China’s Official Energy Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies Case 4. TFC Solar PV project in South Africa
Project overview and impact South Africa faces significant challenges regarding electricity reliability. The lack of investment, coupled with increasing demand have led to chronic load shedding, with household and industrial consumers affected. Energy-intensive sectors, such as ferrochrome smelting, face rising operational costs, production losses and growing pressure to reduce emissions in line with national and international climate objectives. To address power shortages, the South African government, since 2023, has allowed independent power producers to build power plants above 100 MW and sell electricity directly to private customers without an issued generation license.The Tubaste Ferrochrome (TFC) solar PV power…
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Coal Mid-Year Update 2025
Coal’s role in the global energy system today remains significant. Over the past decade, the world’s demand for coal has stayed relatively stable, apart from a temporary drop during the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid rebound that followed. Today, global coal consumption, power generation, production and trade are all at record levels.In many countries, coal continues to be the leading source of electricity generation, helping to meet growing energy needs. These trends carry major implications for energy security, affordability and sustainability, especially as coal remains the single largest contributor to energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. While…
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Road
More stringent and broader coverage of fuel efficiency standards for light-duty vehicles is needed
For cars and vans, increasing fuel efficiency standards is important as even in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, nearly 80% of cars and vans on the road in 2030 are still powered with internal combustion engines. Sales of heavier, less efficient SUVs reached around 46% of global sales in 2022, while electric vehicles were just 14% of sales. More and more countries are formulating vehicle efficiency standards and some are even putting in place zero-emission vehicle sales requirements. To be in line…
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Gaining an Edge
The Role of Energy Efficiency in Enhancing Competitiveness Energy efficiency delivers more than energy savings and emission reductions – it can also improve the competitiveness of countries and firms. From increased profitability to job creation, energy efficiency helps firms compete amid high costs, growing demand, and rising trade pressures. In today’s global context, energy efficiency is not only a matter of energy policy, but also of economic policy.The report analyses historical progress in industrial energy efficiency and its role in enhancing industrial competitiveness. It includes comparisons of firm-level energy efficiency, identifying performance gaps and opportunities for further improvement. Drawing…
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Global battery markets are growing strongly – and so are the supply risks
…seen in 2020.At the same time, regional price disparities have widened. In 2025, battery pack prices in China were 30% lower than in the United States, and 35% lower than in Europe. Record low lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery prices also contributed significantly to overall cost reductions in 2025. LFP battery prices fell by more than 15%, compared with less than 5% for lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NMC) batteries – the second most deployed battery chemistry globally. This made LFP batteries on average more than 40% cheaper than NMC alternatives. As a result, LFP accounted for over half of EV…
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Global Hydrogen Review 2026 Cost acceptability
…close, and only if sufficiently high carbon pricing were to be implemented across all sectors.The cost gap can also be closed by front-running companies and consumers who are willing to pay a premium for low-emissions products. This willingness is largest for steel and aviation. Co-ordination among stakeholders in the value chain can help to distribute the cost premium to those actors most willing to pay.About 45% of the low-emissions hydrogen demand in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario could be achieved with an abatement cost of less than USD 250/t CO₂ by 2035. Nearly…
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Ensuring a Strong Labour Dimension for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions
IEA Clean Energy Labour Council Workers play a critical role in the global energy system, providing key services across many areas of the energy sector. To give a greater voice to the labour perspective in energy and climate policy discussions, the IEA Executive Director, Dr. Fatih Birol, convened the Clean Energy Labour Council in 2022. The Labour Council brings together representatives of the world’s most important national trade unions and trade union confederations, as well as prominent thinkers on the topic, to foster engagement between the IEA, energy policy makers, and the labour movement.The IEA Clean Energy Labour…
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Energy Management for Industry
Driving efficiency implementation This report demonstrates the value of energy management for industry and governments. It illustrates how more systematic approaches to energy efficiency can contribute to ensure continual, durable, and increasing improvements that support competitiveness and energy security. It shows how new advances in energy management, such as increased digitalisation and artificial intelligence, can provide further benefits at speed and at scale. Building on best practices and innovative approaches, the report provides policy guidance on effective policy packages, giving insights into possible actions for policy makers irrespective of the maturity of existing programmes.
