Global Electricity Trends

In 2024, global electricity demand rose by 4% to 30,856 TWh, driven largely by China and extreme heatwaves. Low-carbon sources reached a historic high of 40.9% of global generation, with solar and wind combined surpassing hydropower. Despite this, global power sector emissions hit a record high, increasing by 1.6% due to a rise in fossil generation linked to cooling demand during heatwaves.

• Global electricity demand increased by 4% (+1,172 TWh) in 2024, reaching 30,856 TWh and crossing the 30,000 TWh threshold for the first time. This growth was influenced by hotter temperatures, which added 0.7% to demand, and emerging drivers like electric vehicles, data centres, and heat pumps, which contributed another 0.7% (+195 TWh).
• China is the primary driver of global electricity demand and generation changes. In 2024, China's demand grew by 623 TWh (+6.6%), accounting for over half of the global increase and representing 32.6% of total global demand. Since 2015, China has recorded the largest increases globally across solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, and coal, accounting for 45% of global growth in wind and solar generation.
• Low-carbon power sources reached 40.9% of global electricity generation in 2024, the highest level since the 1940s. Solar and wind combined accounted for 15% of global electricity (solar 6.9%, wind 8.1%), surpassing hydropower (14.3%) and nuclear (9%). Solar generation has doubled since 2021 and added 474 TWh (+29%) in 2024 alone.
• While the share of fossil sources declined to 59.1% in 2024, absolute fossil generation increased by 1.4% (+245 TWh), primarily due to heatwaves increasing cooling demand. Coal generation rose by 149 TWh (+1.4%) and gas by 103 TWh (+1.6%), with the US accounting for 57% of the global increase in gas generation.
• Global power sector emissions reached a record high in 2024, rising by 1.6% (223 million tonnes of CO2). China remains the largest emitter at 5,640 MtCO2 (38.6% of the global total), followed by the US (1,683 MtCO2) and India (1,457 MtCO2). Asia's share of global power sector emissions grew from 33% in 2000 to 63% in 2024.
• The emissions intensity of global power generation fell by 2.3% to 473 gCO2/kWh in 2024, representing a 15% decrease since the 2007 peak of 555 gCO2/kWh. India maintained a high emissions intensity of 708 gCO2/kWh, while Canada, Brazil, and France had the lowest intensities due to high shares of low-carbon generation.

APA

Ember (2025). Global Electricity Trends. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-3/

Chicago

Ember. Global Electricity Trends. 2025. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-3/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Global Electricity Trends |date=8 April 2025 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-3/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2025global, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Global Electricity Trends}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-electricity-trends-3/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }