-
Energy Efficiency 2024 How can energy efficiency alleviate rising heatwave-driven electricity demand?
…of high temperatures leads to new electricity demand records and power outages Global temperatures have reached new heights in recent years. 2023 was the warmest year on record, and 2024 is on track to beat it. The frequency and intensity of heatwaves are increasing, causing extreme temperatures of up to 50ºC in some regions, with multiple national temperature records broken during 2024. Ensuring that cooling needs are met is of primary importance. The extreme temperatures are driving strong demand for much-needed cooling technologies such as air conditioners. However, these are also pushing up electricity use to record levels and…
-
Renewables 2025 Renewable electricity
Renewable electricity additions for 2025-2030 total 4 600 GW – equal to the combined installed power capacity of China, the European Union and Japan Globally, renewable power capacity is projected to increase almost 4 600 GW between 2025 and 2030 – double the deployment of the previous five years (2019-2024). Growth in utility-scale and distributed solar PV more than doubles, representing nearly 80% of worldwide renewable electricity capacity expansion. Low module costs, relatively efficient permitting processes and broad social acceptance drive the acceleration in solar PV adoption.Distributed solar PV applications (residential, commercial, industrial and off-grid projects) account for 42…
-
Southeast Asia Energy Outlook 2026 Energy outlook to 2050 based on today’s policy settings
…regions for aluminium iron and steel production, with output rising by 70%. This reinforces demand for electricity, coal and natural gas, while the young age of industrial assets limits near-term opportunities for fuel switching. In transport, electric vehicles and biofuels curb oil demand growth, avoiding around 1 mb/d of oil demand by 2035 together, reducing exposure to import price volatility and saving roughly USD 25 billion in oil imports, but road freight, aviation and petrochemical feedstocks keep oil use rising. Buildings are a major source of electricity demand growth, led by cooling. Air conditioner stocks are set to triple…
-
World Energy Outlook 2025 Setting the scene
…including a boost in policies designed to enhance energy security. Meanwhile, major gaps persist in the world’s provision of energy: 730 million people still lack access to electricity and nearly 2 billion are without access to clean cooking. These new starting conditions are reflected in a fully revised and updated set of scenarios in this World Energy Outlook (WEO). All take as their starting point the same GDP and population assumptions. None of the scenarios are forecasts. The Current Policies Scenario (CPS) considers a snapshot of policies and regulations that are already in place and offers a generally cautious perspective…
-
State of Energy Policy 2026 Energy efficiency and fuel switching regulations
…in 1975 in the United States and in 1979 in Japan as an immediate response to the oil crises of the 1970s, and in 1978 in the European Economic Community for water and space heaters. By 2025, more than 130 countries had at least one energy efficiency standard in place. State of Energy Policy 2026 provides the first long-term view of how the stringency of MEPS has evolved for a few key end uses of cooling and heating, road transport and industrial motors.In 2025, 15 countries saw changes to MEPS take effect, with some increasing stringency and others decreasing it. Overall…
-
World Energy Outlook 2025 Implications of CPS and STEPS
…lead to a loss of two-thirds of planning reserve margins in the worst affected regions, underlining the need for increased climate resilience planning and implementation. High levels of emissions point towards a temperature rise above pre-industrial levels of 2.9 °C in the CPS and 2.5 °C in the STEPS by 2100, well above the levels targeted in the Paris Agreement. Energy security indicators Energy security cannot be measured with a single indicator: multiple risks and opportunities coexist across both the STEPS and CPS. Energy bills in advanced economies Electricity accounts for an increasing share of household bill...
-
World Energy Outlook 2025 Executive summary
…term hazards are elevating energy to a core issue of economic and national security. Energy is at the heart of today’s geopolitical tensions, with traditional risks to fuel supply now accompanied by restrictions affecting supplies of critical minerals. The electricity sector – so essential to modern economies – is also increasingly vulnerable to cyber, operational and weather-related hazards.Decisions taken by energy policy makers will be crucial to address these risks, but they do so against a complex backdrop:Geopolitical fragility coexists with subdued oil prices. Ongoing conflicts and instability sit alongside oil market balances showing a large surplus of…
-
World Energy Employment 2025 Executive summary
…a sizeable portion of the increase. In both vehicles and efficiency employment, part of this growth is met by workers in related segments retraining and shifting roles – such as heating technicians learning to install heat pumps or auto workers moving to EV assembly lines – but it also reflects the creation of new jobs in areas like manufacturing batteries and installing electric industrial equipment.Demand for workers is increasing across all parts of the energy system, not just electricity, as the world remains thirsty for energy. Coal supply jobs have seen a resurgence in India, China and Indonesia in recent years…
-
Global EV Outlook 2025 Outlook for energy demand
…but electricity demand could increase more than fourfold, reaching 780 TWh in the STEPS. This is driven by increasing consumption from electric trucks, as well as greater EV uptake in markets where people drive more per year. Total energy demand for road transport increases by only 5% in 2030 in the STEPS, while total road activity (in terms of vehicle kilometres travelled) increases by almost 20% during the same period, reflecting the greater energy efficiency of EVs. Globally, electric LDVs remain the greatest consumer of electricity for road transport, though their share of road electricity demand falls by around 5 percentage points…
-
World Energy Investment 2025 Executive summary
…invest, but are often not the primary driver for investment in technologies that are increasingly mature and cost-competitive. Investment trends are being shaped by the onset of the ‘Age of Electricity’ and the rapid rise in electricity demand for industry, cooling, electric mobility, data centres and artificial intelligence (AI). Ten years ago, investments in fossil fuel supply were 30% higher than those for electricity generation, grids and storage. Today, these positions are reversed. Investment in the electricity sector is set to reach USD 1.5 trillion in 2025, some 50% higher than the total amount being spent on bringing oil, natural…
