Sustainable and reliable energy may be on every nation’s wish list, but governments are taking a variety of routes towards this goal. The latest 2025 Statistical Review of World Energy[1] highlights a disorderly transition, characterised by rising demand (up 2 percent), increasing electrification, and accelerating growth in renewables and fossil fuels.
Europe faces a reality check on renewables, with supply growth of just 7 percent in 2024, due to lack of finance, supply chain bottlenecks, and permitting barriers. China, on the other hand, is surging ahead, increasing its green energy generation by17.1 percent – adding twice as much as the US, Europe, and India together. Globally, coal, oil and gas production all reached record levels in 2024, and, with its ‘drill, baby, drill’ mantra, the US has become the world’s leading producer of oil and gas; its oil output equalled that of Russia and Saudi Arabia combined.
Global electricity production rose by 4 percent in 2024 – twice as much as other energy types – driven by demand from electric vehicles (EVs), data centers and, especially cooling. And, while renewables now supply a third of global electricity, coal remains the largest single source. Nuclear power generated more than 5 percent of the world’s energy, mainly due to increases in France and Japan.
Combining decarbonisation and prosperity is a real challenge, particularly for nations on a fast upward growth curve, as evidenced by rising emissions in China and India of 1.2 percent and 4.1 percent respectively in 2024. In contrast, the UK decreased its emissions by 1.8 percent in 2024, roughly on a par with France (1.8 percent) and Germany (1.5 percent), and ahead of the US (0.8 percent).
