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Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 Overview of outlook for key minerals
Demand for critical minerals continues to rise across all scenarios, driven by the rapid deployment of energy technologies Demand for key energy minerals is set to grow rapidly across all scenarios, with the largest source of growth coming from the energy sector. In the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS), lithium grows fivefold from today to 2040, while graphite and nickel demand double. Demand for cobalt and rare earth elements also grows strongly, increasing 50-60% by 2040. Copper is the material with the largest established market, and its demand is projected to grow by 30% over the same period. Battery deployment…
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Fatih Birol
Executive Director. As Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Dr Fatih Birol (@fbirol) has positioned the IEA at the forefront of global efforts to advance a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system. Since taking office in 2015, he has modernised the Agency by broadening its energy security mandate beyond oil to include electricity, natural gas, renewables and critical minerals, strengthened the Agency's global leadership in clean energy transitions and expanded IEA membership to include major emerging countries. As a result, the IEA’s share of global energy demand coverage has increased from 40% to over 80%. He has also played a central role in the global response to major energy security emergencies, including those triggered by the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis.Dr Birol joined the IEA in 1995 and steadily rose through the ranks from junior analyst to Chief Economist, where he oversaw the flagship World Energy Outlook. Throug...
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Ali Saffar
Head of Division for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Ali Al-Saffar is the Middle East and North Africa programme manager at the International Energy Agency, leading the IEA’s engagement with the region and acting as a key advisor to the executive management. Prior to this role, he was an energy analyst at the Directorate for Sustainability, Technology and Outlooks, where he co-authored seven editions of the IEA’s flagship long-term forecast, the World Energy Outlook.
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Energy and AI Energy supply for AI
Global electricity supply to meet data centre demand Global electricity generation to supply data centres is projected to grow from 460 TWh in 2024 to over 1 000 TWh in 2030 and 1 300 TWh in 2035 in the Base Case. Over the next five years, renewables meet nearly half of the additional demand, followed by natural gas and coal, with nuclear starting to play an increasingly important role towards the end of this decade and beyond.Coal, with a share of about 30%, is the largest source of electricity, though this varies significantly by region, with the highest contribution found in China. Renewables – primarily wind…
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Scaling Up Transition Finance What is transition finance?
Developments and current status Many energy investments defy a simple binary classification between “clean” and “dirty”: there are also the “in-between” investments that can deliver material emissions reductions but that do not bring emissions to zero. These investments have historically been difficult to categorise due to differences in energy pathways and timeframes across regions and have been the subject of debate, including over whether and how they should be supported.Transition finance refers to financial activities that can contribute to emissions reductions, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors as well as in emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) where…
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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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Global Energy Review 2026 Technology: Heat pumps
Global heat pump sales fell by about 2% in 2025. Sales in China and Japan were largely flat, while Europe saw a strong return of demand. Sales in the United States declined.In China, heat pump sales stayed broadly stable. Reversible air conditioners (used as primary heating equipment) make up about half the Chinese heat pump market, and while record-breaking sales of air conditioners supported strong demand in the first half the year, they fell sharply in the second half. Sales of air-to-water and hot water heat pumps, which make up the remainder of the market, remained…
- Key findings
- Global trends
- Oil
- Natural gas
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+ 9 pages
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Musa Erdogan
Energy Analyst.
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Renewables 2022 Renewable heat
Recent trends and policy update Heating is the world’s largest energy end use, accounting for almost half of global final energy consumption. Industrial processes are responsible for 53% of the final energy consumed for heat, while another 44% is used in buildings for space and water heating and, to a lesser extent, cooking. The remainder is used in agriculture, primarily for greenhouse heating. The heating sector is largely dominated by fossil fuels, with renewable energy sources meeting less than one-quarter of global heat demand in 2021 (and the traditional use of biomass makes up half this amount).With…
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Gas Market Report, Q2-2026 Executive summary
The Middle East conflict has disrupted gas market fundamentals and is changing the medium-term outlook The war in the Middle East is sending shockwaves through energy markets. The easing of fundamentals in international natural gas markets in early 2026 was abruptly disrupted by the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz at the beginning of March, which has created unprecedented uncertainty.The crisis has profoundly distorted short-term market fundamentals and is altering the medium-term outlook for natural gas. The loss, for the time being, of almost 20% of global LNG supply has caused strong price volatility, driving…
