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Unlocking Ukraine’s Hydrogen Opportunity: A Roadmap Policy recommendations for the coming 2-3 years
…capacity and restoring energy security must be a priority. Any activity focused on accelerating deployment of renewables will have positive spillover effects for hydrogen, by building experience across the workforce and companies and helping to build confidence among potential investors. This will also indirectly reduce the cost of capital by reducing the uncertainties related with renewable electricity generation. Similarly, any efforts related to permitting and administrative processes for renewables can also support the creation of standardised processes that could be used as a starting point for the corresponding processes for hydrogen projects. An initial focus on renewables can support progressive…
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Global Hydrogen Review 2025 Five key questions about hydrogen
Is the slow progress of projects derailing the hydrogen sector? Recent headlines reporting project delays, cancellations and downward revisions of ambitions for the adoption of low-emissions hydrogen, have led many to question whether the industry has hit another “hype cycle” like those in the 1970s, 1990s, and early 2000s. However, a deeper analysis reveals a different story. Despite falling short of the ambitious targets from the early 2020s, the sector is achieving remarkable milestones that demonstrate clear progress.The scale of electrolyser projects is growing fast. In 2021, the world's largest reached 30 MW. In 2025, a 500 MW project…
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Global Energy and Climate Model Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS)
…inform the important decisions that are being taken today.The methodology for the STEPS has been consistent over time, but the modelling approaches have evolved across successive iterations of the scenario. Among other things, there has been a concerted effort to develop insights into energy supply chains, including those for critical minerals. Work on electricity has been underpinned by granular hourly modelling of the operation of power systems, and by detailed consideration of new sources of demand such as data centres and artificial intelligence (AI). New geospatial analysis is now a regular feature of IEA modelling and analyses. Related links
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World Energy Investment 2025 Eurasia
…technologies, foreign capital and technical expertise from western companies. Investment in renewables has remained low in Eurasia, despite a generally favourable resource base for wind and solar. However, there are some signs of change. Uzbekistan, for example, is looking to install more than 20 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, and there are also export-oriented initiatives under discussion for renewables-based electricity via a Green Energy Corridor. The region is also an important centre for nuclear power, with Russia a leader in nuclear energy design and construction. Since 2017, 45% of the nuclear reactors under construction worldwide use Russian designs.
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Outlook for Biogas and Biomethane Biogas and biomethane outlook to 2050
…in 2022 triggered interest in developing biomethane to substitute imported natural gas. The revised figure is driven in part by strengthened policy incentives, notably in Europe and China. There is a strong continued use case for biogases in the Outlook scenarios. Electricity's share in total final consumption increases from 20% in 2023 to over 30% by 2050 in the STEPs and around 40% in the APS. Nevertheless, liquid and gaseous fuels still meet 50% of total final energy consumption in the STEPS and 40% in the APS, creating opportunities for the use of low-emissions fuels in sectors unable…
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Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 Executive summary
Demand for key energy minerals continued to grow strongly in 2024. Lithium demand rose by nearly 30%, significantly exceeding the 10% annual growth rate seen in the 2010s. Demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earths increased by 6‑8% in 2024. This growth was largely driven by energy applications such as electric vehicles, battery storage, renewables and grid networks. In the case of copper, the rapid expansion of grid investments in China has been the single largest contributor to demand growth over the past two years. For battery metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite, the energy sector accounted…
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Gaining an Edge Summary for policymakers
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.Today the world’s industries can produce nearly 20% more value for a given amount of energy than they could two decades ago. This progress has yielded significant benefits at the country level. G20 countries have doubled their economic output…
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Ensuring a Strong Labour Dimension for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions
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 convened the Clean Energy Labour Council in 2022. The Labour Council is made up of 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.One of the main topics for the IEA Clean Energy Labour…
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Energy and AI Understanding the energy-AI nexus
Artificial intelligence (AI) has a long history, dating back to at least the 1950s. Over time, it has seen a series of alternating periods of optimism and pessimism (so-called “AI winters”). In recent years, however, AI has been dramatically boosted by several developments and breakthroughs in techniques, costs and technology that have led to the rise of AI in its modern form that we are familiar with today, in particular generative AI. These developments include the massive increase in computing power and decline in cost due to exponential improvements in computing hardware performance; the exponential increase in the availability…
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China’s Official Energy Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies Setting the scene
…a persistent trend: a gaping regional imbalance in global energy investment. After removing the share of investment going towards advanced economies and People’s Republic of China (hereafter, “China”), emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) other than China account for around 27% of total energy investment and 18% of clean energy investment. With the bulk of future energy and electricity demand expected to be driven by EMDE, this disparity influences their ability to deliver secure, affordable energy transitions aligned with their development objectives. From around USD 875 billion today, energy investment in EMDE other than China needs to rise substantially in…
