Extreme Weather's Outsized Role in Driving 2024 Global Energy

Written by Aaron Studwell for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The International Energy Agency's (IEA) Global Energy Review 2025 underscores the degree to which climate extremes now shape the global energy landscape. The report finds that 2024 was defined by a surge in both energy demand and emissions, with record-setting heat playing a critical role.

Global energy demand grew by 2.2%, significantly above the recent decade's average, while electricity demand expanded even more rapidly at 4.3%. These figures are striking not only for their scale but also for the degree to which they reflect forces beyond economic growth.

The year's extreme temperatures, particularly in Asia, drove cooling demand to previously unseen levels. Population-weighted cooling degree-days (CDD) in 2024 rose by 6% compared to 2023 and nearly 20% above the long-term average.



The IEA estimates that weather alone accounted for about 15% of the global increase in energy demand, one-fifth of the growth in electricity and natural gas consumption, and the entire increase in coal demand. Without the extraordinary heat waves that swept across China and India, coal consumption would likely have remained flat or declined.



This weather-driven demand directly resulted in higher emissions. Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 0.8% in 2024, reaching a record-breaking 37.8 gigatons. According to the IEA, roughly half of the emissions increase can be traced to weather alone. If 2024 temperatures were consistent with 2023, the second-hottest year on record, roughly half of the year's emissions increase would not have occurred. At the same time, the expansion of solar, wind, nuclear, electric vehicles, and heat pump usage since 2019 reduced 2.6 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually, equal to about 7% of global levels.

The IEA report also highlights important structural progress within the global power generation sector. Carbon dioxide emissions from advanced economies, per IEA standards, fell by more than 1%, returning to levels last seen half a century ago even though their combined gross domestic product has tripled over that same period. Clean technologies, including solar, wind and nuclear, are increasingly offsetting the upward pressure from extreme weather on fossil fuel consumption.

The IEA's review makes clear that extreme weather has moved from being a marginal factor to a defining force in the global energy balances. Rising air-conditioning demand, coupled with the explosive growth of data centers, is straining electricity grids and reinforcing the dependence on fossil fuels in many regions. Yet the report also points to a growing decoupling between energy demand and emissions, thanks to the accelerating deployment of clean energy technologies. Without these advances, emissions growth would have been far greater.

The 2025 assessment highlights that the global energy sector is caught between two forces. While climate change is amplifying demand volatility, pushing energy consumption higher during periods of heat and weather extremes, structural shifts in technology are gradually loosening the historic link between demand growth and emissions.

For policymakers, utilities and investors, the challenge will be to scale the energy transition at a pace that not only keeps up with economic growth, but also lessens its increasing impacts of a changing climate.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).