The new edition of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) by the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global electricity demand is set to double by 2050.
This will be largely driven by China’s ongoing energy transition. The report says that the world’s second-largest economy has already accounted for two-thirds of all new electricity demand over the past decade.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said that the world had already seen an “Age of Coal” and an “Age of Oil” and was now “moving at speed into the Age of Electricity”.
He said that this new age would “define the global energy system going forward” and added that it would increasingly be based on clean energy sources.
The annual WEO is widely considered to be the most authoritative global source of energy analysis and projection.
The IEA has increased its forecasts for energy demand by 6% compared to last year based on a number of factors, including new data centres, increased use of air conditioning, and factories in China making new clean energy products.
While China is responsible for much of the increase in demand, the report said that the country was expected to meet most of this increase via its own growing supply of electricity from renewable sources.
In 2023, the report noted that China was responsible for three-fifths of all new renewable capacity worldwide.
Half of all energy set to come from cleaner sources by 2030
The 2024 WEO also warned that regional conflicts and geopolitical pressures were exposing vulnerabilities in the current global energy system.
However, an abundance or even surplus of oil and gas could lead to falling prices in the second half of the decade, allowing policymakers more room to pursue the transition to cleaner energy.
The report suggests that lower emission sources could generate more than half of the world’s energy needs by 2030, with demand for coal, oil and gas peaking at around the same time.
To sustain clean growth, major economies must invest much more into new energy systems, particularly in the area of energy grids and storage.
According to the report, this area of infrastructure needs even faster investment than clean energy generation itself.
It added that, with many systems vulnerable to extreme weather events, resilience and digital security are a priority.
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