The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond.
Founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis, the IEA’s initial role was to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in oil supply through the release of emergency oil stocks to the markets.
While this continues to be a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative statistics, analysis and recommendations.
Today, the IEA’s four main areas of focus are:
- Energy security: Promoting diversity, efficiency and flexibility within all energy sectors;
- Economic development: Ensuring the stable supply of energy to IEA member countries and promoting free markets to foster economic growth and eliminate energy poverty;
- Environmental awareness: Enhancing international knowledge of options for tackling climate change; and
- Engagement worldwide: Working closely with non-member countries, especially major producers and consumers, to find solutions to shared energy and environmental concerns.
The Age of Eletricity
Welcome back to The Energy Mix. In today's edition: The World Energy Outlook's key findings on the growing role of electricity; the inauguration of our new office in Singapore; what the data centre boom could mean for the energy sector; the latest developments in oil markets; and more.
And mark your agendas: On Wednesday, we will release Energy Technology Perspectives 2024, the latest edition of our flagship technology publication, which this year will focus on the manufacturing and trade of clean energy technologies. You can watch the launch event LIVE at 11:30 am CEST on Wednesday.
The energy system is moving at speed into the Age of Electricity
Our new World Energy Outlook (WEO), which explores the biggest trends in energy demand and supply – as well as what they mean for energy security, emissions and economic development – finds that the importance of electricity to the global energy system is quickly increasing.
According to our recently published WEO 2024, electricity use grew twice as fast as total energy demand from 2010 to 2023. But between now to 2035, electricity demand is set to grow six times as fast as overall energy demand as a result of factors like the adoption of electric vehicles, air conditioning use, the digitalisation of the economy, the expansion of artificial intelligence.
Low-emissions sources are set to generate more than half of the world’s electricity before 2030 – and demand for all three fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – is still projected to peak by the end of the decade. But reliably and affordably meeting rising electricity demand will require stronger measures including expanding and shoring up electricity grids and increasing the resilience of power systems to extreme weather events and digital threats.
Read the press release and full World Energy Outlook 2024 for more on the key trends in the global energy system – and watch the launch event here.
You can also explore specific chapters in the report online, including the Executive Summary, our regional insights and dashboards, as well as a section exploring numerous sensitivity cases on key topics such as the speed at which renewables and electric mobility might grow, how fast demand for LNG might rise, and how heatwaves, efficiency policies and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) might affect electricity demand going forward.
Strengthening collaboration with countries in Southeast Asia with new Singapore Centre
Last week, we inaugurated the first IEA office outside of our Paris headquarters in our Agency’s 50-year history in Southeast Asia, allowing us to deepen and expand our collaboration with countries across the region as they navigate the substantial energy opportunities and challenges ahead.
We marked the occasion with a special ceremony involving Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and our Executive Director Fatih Birol, with an audience of more than 1,200 people present. These included Ministers from around the world and over 30 Ambassadors, with Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng, IEA Governing Board Chair Anders Hoffmann and IEA Standing Group of Global Energy Dialogue Chair Ursula Borak joining Deputy Prime Minister Gan and Dr Birol on stage.
Following the ceremony, our Executive Director had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong at the Presidential Palace, the Istana, to discuss the situation in global and regional energy markets and to mark the inauguration of the new IEA office and plan next steps.
Our newly released Southeast Asia Energy Outlook 2024 underscores why the region is so important to global energy trends. It finds that Southeast Asia is set to be one of the world’s largest engines of energy demand growth over the next decade as its rapid economic, population and manufacturing expansions drive up consumption. Speeding up the deployment of clean energy technologies will be crucial to meet countries’ energy and climate goals, while also creating significant economic opportunities.
Read our press release on the launch of our new office in Singapore and explore our new Southeast Asia Energy Outlook.
To keep up with our very latest news and analysis, follow the IEA on social media (LinkedIn, Twitter) as well as our Executive Director Fatih Birol (LinkedIn, Twitter)
International Summit on the Future of Energy Security taking place in April 2025
We have just announced the dates for our International Summit on the Future of Energy Security, which will take place at Lancaster House in London on 24-25 April next year.
Convened by the IEA and hosted by the UK government, the Summit will address traditional and emerging risks related to energy security in an era of geopolitical strains, technological transformation and a changing climate.
Bringing together leaders and decision-makers from around the world, it will provide them with an opportunity to review the trends redefining global energy security. These include changes in energy demand, supply and trade; the adoption of clean and efficient energy solutions; the availability of the minerals and metals required for clean energy technologies; and the allocation of investment in a transforming energy landscape.
Read our news article and stay tuned for further updates on the Summit.
What the data centre and AI boom could mean for the energy sector
The wave of investment worldwide in data centres, notably to power the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, is creating concerns about a surge in electricity demand in the coming years.
Based on the findings from the World Energy Outlook 2024, our new commentary explores this issue. Today, data centres account for around 1% of global electricity consumption. However, the sector is quickly expanding due to accelerating digitalisation and the adoption of AI.
At the global level, the increase in electricity use from data centres to 2030 should be relatively modest, based on current projections. Continued economic growth, electric vehicles, air conditioners and the rising importance of electricity-intensive manufacturing are set to be bigger drivers in the expected rise in consumption. That said, because data centres tend to be geographically clustered, their local impact on energy systems can be pronounced.
Given the uncertainties surrounding energy demand from data centres, and the potential for AI to transform the energy sector more broadly, there is an urgent need for policymakers, the tech sector and the energy industry to come together. To discuss these topics, we are convening a Global Conference on Energy & AI at our headquarters in Paris on 4 and 5 December. Find out more on the conference event page.
Risks to oil supply security in focus even as demand growth continues to soften
Oil prices spiked earlier this month, driven by concerns about supply amid the conflict in the Middle East. However, this is set against a market that looks adequately supplied, according to our latest monthly Oil Market Report.
World oil demand is on track to expand by just under 900,000 barrels per day in 2024 and close to 1 million barrels per day in 2025, marking a sharp slowdown compared with the roughly 2 million barrels per day of average growth over the 2022-23 post-pandemic period. Oil consumption in China appears particularly soft at the moment as economic growth decelerates and the electrification of transport picks up.
At the same time, oil supply from non-OPEC+ countries – led by the United States, Brazil, Guyana and Canada – is poised to continue to make robust gains this year and next. This added production is expected to more than cover the anticipated growth in global demand.
Read the highlights and overview from our October Oil Market Report.
ENERGY SNAPSHOT
Based on today’s policy settings, a huge wave of new LNG supply is set to enter the market in the coming years. A rise of nearly 50% in global LNG export capacity between now and 2030, mostly from the United States and Qatar, is likely to bring lower natural gas prices. But some of that additional LNG supply may struggle to find buyers, since imported natural gas is still likely to face stiff competition from renewables and coal in price-sensitive developing economies. Read more in the World Energy Outlook 2024.
Interested in more insights from IEA charts and data? Our new Energy Snapshot newsletter, which uses charts to show and explain the major changes taking place across the global energy system. You can sign up here.
WHAT WE'RE READING & WATCHING:
- Southeast Asia has a crucial role in the world's energy future [The Straits Times]
- IEA opens 1st overseas office in Singapore as Southeast Asian hub [Kyodo News]
- Global Electricity Demand is Rising Faster Than Expected, IEA Says [The New York Times]
- La Agencia de la Energía apunta al fin del reinado de los combustibles fósiles y al inicio de la ‘era de la electricidad’ [El País]
- Global Oil Demand Weakness May Continue [Bloomberg TV]
- Cheap Solar Panels are Changing the World [Atlantic]
COMING UP
30 October: Energy Technology Perspectives 2024
7 November: Energy Efficiency 2024
11 November: COP29 begins in Baku, Azerbaijan
14 November: Oil Market Report
Late November: The Future of Geothermal Energy
5 December: Global Conference on Energy and AI
The international launch of More data, less energy:
Making network standby more efficient in billions of connected devices webinar
on Wednesday, 2 July 2014, 13:30 Paris time
Maria van der Hoeven
Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA)
Didier Houssin
Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology, IEA
The electricity demand of our increasingly digital economies is growing at an alarming rate. While data centre energy demand has received much attention, of greater cause for concern is the growing energy demand of billions of networked devices such as smart phones, tablets and set-top boxes. In 2013, a relatively small portion of the world’s population relied on more than 14 billion of these devices to stay connected. That number could skyrocket to 500 billion by 2050, driving dramatic increases in both energy demand and wasted energy.
Being connected 24/7 means these information and communication technology (ICT) devices draw energy all the time, even when in standby mode. This publication probes their hidden energy costs. In 2013, such devices consumed 616 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, surpassing the total electricity consumption of Canada. Studies show that for some devices, such as game consoles, up to 80% of the energy consumption is used just to maintain a network connection. Implementing best available technologies could reduce the energy demand of network-enabled devices by up to 65%. In the absence of strong market drivers to optimise the energy performance of these devices, policy intervention is needed.
Building on its experience in setting international policy for standby energy consumption of stand-alone devices, the International Energy Agency uses this publication to set the stage for tackling the much bigger challenge of network standby. In exploring both policy and technology solutions, the book charts a path forward and identifies which stakeholders should take the lead in particular areas. An underlying message is that there is a need for international cooperation across all parts of the ICT value chain.
Participants must register in advance to attend the webinar by emailing ieapressoffice@iea.org
Please note! Once you register, you will receive the dial-in numbers to call on the day of the launch
as well as the link that will allow you to follow the webinar on your screen.
To ask questions during the Q&A period you will also need to be connected by phone.
Further questions should be directed to ieapressoffice@iea.org
| International Energy Agency - Start year: : 1974 Description: The IEA is an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond. The IEA has four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide. | |
| Notes: The IEA was founded in 1974 to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil. While this remains a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative statistics and analysis. | |
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