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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Feeding our energy-hungry world
3/7/2024
14 min read
Our appetite for energy continues to grow, and with it consumption of fossil fuels, according to the 73rd Statistical Review of World Energy, published by the Energy Institute, which records the production, consumption and trade flows of fossil fuels and renewables, around the world, by region or by country. The 2023 data, published in June, reveals an increase in global energy consumption, in fossil fuels and in carbon emissions, but also an increase in renewable sources of energy. Writes New Energy World Senior Editor Will Dalrymple.
The world used more energy than ever before in 2023, according to the latest Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, co-authored by KPMG and Kearney. Record-high primary energy consumption rose to 620 EJ, 2% higher than the prior year’s previous high.
Our energy needs continued to be largely met by non-renewable fuels: total fossil fuel consumption increased by 1.5% to 505 EJ. But overall emissions from energy increased even more than that, by 2%, to exceed 40 Gt for the first time. This bucks the long-term trend of emissions growing at about half the rate of energy.
Indeed, the report contained both good and bad news about changes in the energy mix. On the one hand, it was slightly less fossil-based in 2023 (81.5% compared with 82% in the previous year). But on the other hand, the mix within fossil has become more carbon-intense – with more coal, more oil and gas broadly flat.