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Global Energy Review 2026 Electricity demand
Electricity demand grew more than twice as fast as overall energy demand Global electricity demand grew year-on-year by around 3% in 2025, easing from 4.4% in 2024, when intense heat waves boosted electricity consumption. Nevertheless, the 2025 growth rate remained above the 2.8% annual average observed between 2014 and 2024 and was also well over twice the rate of overall global energy demand growth in 2025 (1.3%). Demand growth was well above long-term average rates in advanced economies, but slowed in Asian economies In 2025, emerging market and developing economies accounted for 80% of…
- Key findings
- Global trends
- Oil
- Natural gas
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+ 9 pages
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Global Energy Review 2025 Coal
…has been declining since the strong rebound in 2021 following the end of Covid-19 lockdowns in many countries.The electricity sector continues to drive coal demand, accounting for two-thirds of global consumption. In 2024, global coal power generation grew by nearly 1% to 10 700 TWh, a new high. A key driver was record temperatures, which pushed up electricity demand for cooling (especially with intense heatwaves in China and India). The estimated effect of higher temperatures on coal demand in 2024 covers the entire annual increase in coal use. While coal remains the world’s largest source of power generation…
- Key findings
- Global trends
- Oil
- Natural gas
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+ 3 pages
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Breakthrough Agenda Report 2026 Executive summary
The next phase of international collaboration is focused on delivery With long-term goals and sectoral targets established in many countries, the focus of international energy and climate collaboration has shifted. The primary priority of collaboration is no longer articulating new commitments, but delivering outcomes within this decade. This shift has been most prominent in recent international processes, including the Conference of the Parties (COP), where the focus has moved towards mechanisms and initiatives intended to support delivery across sectors of the global economy.In addition to emissions reductions, many governments are considering energy transitions for reasons of energy security…
- Executive summary
- Hydrogen
- Road transport
- Steel
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+ 3 pages
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Energy and AI Executive summary
…However, there is still a lack of understanding of the stakes and implications of this deepening connection between energy and AI. Consistent with its strong track record of identifying and exploring emerging issues in the energy sector, this new International Energy Agency (IEA) special report seeks to fill this gap with the most comprehensive, data-driven analysis on the topic to date. Based on a new global model and comprehensive dataset of data centre electricity demand, its analysis was also enriched by an in-depth process of consultation with policy makers, the tech sector, the energy industry and other experts…
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Renewables in District Energy Executive summary
…a small number of countries with strong policy support, favourable resources and coordinated planning. This contrasts sharply with the rapid scale-up of other clean energy technologies. Over the past five years, global solar PV capacity has more than quadrupled, wind capacity has nearly doubled, and electric car sales have surged – all while renewables use in district heating has remained stable. Without policy changes, renewable district heat is projected to grow by only around 10% to 2030. This highlights a major untapped opportunity to expand renewables in both existing and new district energy systems, supporting diversification and decarbonisation of heat supply....
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Outlook for Biogas and Biomethane Introduction to biogas and biomethane
Biogas is a mixture of methane, CO2 and small quantities of other gases produced by anaerobic digestion of organic matter in an oxygen-free environment. Its precise composition depends on the type of feedstock and the production pathway. The methane content of biogas typically ranges from 45% to 75% by volume. Biogas is usually produced using the following technologies: Biodigesters: These are airtight systems (e.g. containers or tanks) in which organic material is broken down by naturally occurring micro-organisms. Contaminants and moisture are usually removed before use of the biogas. Landfill gas recovery systems: The decomposition of municipal…
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Universal Access to Clean Cooking in Africa Implications and policy considerations
A new recipe for success? Progress on clean cooking requires efforts from a wide range of stakeholders. These include efforts to enhance countries’ policy frameworks, address consumer affordability and other barriers to adoption, cultivate a skilled workforce and mobilise additional financing to the sector – themes discussed in this chapter.Access to low-cost debt will be key for companies to grow their customer base quickly. In the ACCESS, the share of debt financing in the sector increases from 35% today to over 50%. This depends on more financiers being able to assess and appropriately price risk clean cooking companies and…
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Seamus O'Regan
Former Minister of Natural Resources.
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Electricity Mid-Year Update 2025 Executive summary
Global electricity demand on course to expand robustly in 2025 and 2026 despite economic headwinds Global power demand is expected to rise much faster over the forecast 2025‑2026 period than it did during the past decade. While slower than the 4.4% surge in 2024, growth forecasts of 3.3% for 2025 and 3.7% for 2026 remain among the highest rates observed in the past decade and well above the 2015-2023 average of 2.6%. Despite a slowdown in economic activity, which has weighed on global electricity use so far in 2025, heatwaves continue to add to demand…
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Global Energy and Climate Model About the Global Energy and Climate Model
…function – was developed. A decade later, the Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) model – a technology-rich bottom-up model – was developed for use in parallel to the WEM.Over the past four years, the IEA has worked to develop a new integrated modelling framework: the IEA’s Global Energy and Climate (GEC) Model. This model is now the principal tool used to generate detailed sector-by-sector and region-by-region long-term scenarios across IEA's publications.The GEC Model brings together the unique modelling capabilities of the WEM and ETP models. The result is a large-scale, bottom-up…
