Energy Institute CEO Nick Wayth FEI CEng opened a press conference in late June by introducing some headline figures from the report, which tallies full-year data to the end of 2025 and celebrates its 75th anniversary with an expanded editorial section.

He pointed out that, for the second consecutive year in a row, all forms of energy grew. ‘Coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, hydro and nuclear all reached new record highs. And that's not happened for at least 20 years,’ he said.

Turning to oil, Wayth continued: ‘Oil production grew at 3.5%, much faster than consumption, which only grew at 1.3%, led by Saudi Arabia and the US increasing production by 5% and 4% respectively. This goes some way to explaining why the closure of the Strait of Hormuz this year has not been quite as catastrophic as some would have expected.’

Energy Institute President Andy Brown OBE FEI chimed in: ‘There was clearly a stock build last year. We heard a lot about the Chinese stock build and we saw China reduce its imports through the crisis. So there was a preparation for that, which I think stood us in good stead.’

He then turned to look west, across the Atlantic Ocean, and the impact of the US shale revolution in helping the country become a net exporter of oil. ‘This self-sufficiency in the US I think not only creates an environment where there's more oil available, but also creates [a desire to further reduce] reliance on Middle East exports.’ Last year oil production in the Americas grew by nearly 5% overall, and by 10% in Central and South America.

‘And that's very much about deep water. The Americas now has 20% more oil production than the Middle East. Twenty years ago, it had 20% less. So you can see the reliance has reduced over these 20 years,’ added the Energy Institute President, himself a long-standing oil and gas executive.

Brown then brought the focus back to home ground, the UK. ‘Twenty years ago we were self-sufficient. But there is a big gap that has now opened up between our consumption, which is going down in the UK, and our production, which is dropping a lot faster. So you see the UK being less self-sufficient in terms of overall oil and gas than the US. But then if you think a bit deeper about what's happening in refining, China, a very centrally-managed economy, has kept the refining capacity above consumption in a very consistent way over these last 20 years. In the UK we have allowed refineries to close and now we aren't quite self-sufficient (but not far off).’

China posted the fastest growth rate of any major economy, at over 5% growth in just one year. That growth amounted to adding an equivalent amount of power as the whole of Germany to its grid, observed Wayth. ‘China's total general total generation overtook the US in 2011 and by last year it produced 2.2 times more electricity. It is an incredible trajectory that China has been on versus Europe and the US, and this is not an accident, but a clear demonstration of a nation that has long understood the importance of energy sovereignty and energy efficiency,’ he said.

Why is energy security forcing countries to develop divergent plans? 
Wafa Jafri, Partner and UK Lead for Energy and Natural Resources Strategy, KPMG in the UK, viewed the year’s developments through a fractured lens. ‘For us, the key two points that are emerging are around the disorderly as well as the divergent transition. There's no single global energy transition. Based on the data that we've observed, countries are facing the same pressures but making very different choices regarding their energy policies, and the energy map is changing because of it.’

Conventional narratives are being upended. Last year, the Americas produced about 20% more oil than the Middle East. But that oil and gas-rich region delivered the fastest growth in renewables, about 39% in 2025. While Europe may see itself as leading the energy transition, it only delivered 5% growth in renewables in 2025 versus a global average of about 16%.

Jafri continued: ‘With the current Iran war, what we're seeing is countries rebalance the [energy] trilemma, and we're seeing three key responses emerge. One is around the accelerators using the crisis, as well as the one earlier in the decade, to accelerate the energy transition. Two is countries that are putting security first, so ensuring that they're going for whatever form of energy they have available. And then there are the pragmatists that are really looking at diversifying the energy that they have in order to create resilience in their system.’

Jafri went on to consider other strategic vulnerabilities. She said: ‘History tells us that crises do reshape the energy systems. The two conflicts experienced this decade will likely leave another structural legacy as well. The next choke point that we need to think about as we go towards renewables as a form of diversification is going to be around critical minerals. We've talked a little bit about the refining capacity in terms of the concentration risk. But it is worth mentioning that about 70% of global refining and processing for critical minerals is concentrated in China. And this is an issue of concentration risk, not resource availability.’

‘What this means for countries as well as businesses going forward is to shift the questions that they're asking and they're used to asking their executive committee and their policymakers. It's no longer going to be about where do the resources come from, but it should be about how resilient and diversified is the value chain to be able to deliver on the ambitions.’

What does the popularity of renewables mean for the world’s energy system?
In his remarks, Nick Wayth also highlighted the megatrend of increasing popularity of renewable energy. He said: ‘While the world is producing more energy than ever, what is notable is how the mix is evolving for the first time in a growing energy market. Outside of COVID and the financial crisis, renewables were the largest absolute contributor to growth, responsible for 30% of the year-on-year change. Solar generation was over wind for the first time, growing at 30%, and add in all the other forms of low-carbon energy, hydro, biofuels and nuclear, and nearly 40% of the growth was met by non-fossil sources. That still meant that fossil met just over 60% of growth, although that's the lowest proportion for five years.’

Kearney partner and Europe Sustainability Lead Maria de Kleijn picked up the theme. ‘We have seen solar growing globally by 30%. Do that for five years in a row and you're at times three [solar’s current installed capacity]. Of course, solar is not the only renewable here, so it might take six years, but that is within range.’

She continued: ‘Solar is a global winner in every region. Why is that? It's a combination of superior economics in many, many places, but also low project complexity. It is simply easier to do. A lot of solar is not done in major projects, it's actually done behind the meter on residential rooftops, on parking lots, businesses filling up their roof. That is simply a lot quicker and requires less complexity to do.’ (This year’s Statistical Review includes for the first time a table on behind-the-meter solar, in addition to the long-standing compilation of grid-connected solar photovoltaic numbers.)

She then went on to say that the technical challenges shift with the new power sources. As renewables such as solar substitute fossil fuels, the grid is replacing dispatchable energy which can be produced as required by demand, to a system with weather-driven production. ‘So, the new challenge becomes not can I produce enough energy, but can I bring my energy to my customers at the right time and in the right place,’ de Kleijn added.

Which amounts to a flexibility and a storage question. And that’s not all. She also pointed out: ‘Renewables are often in different locations from where large-scale fossil power production was, and far more decentralised. Electricity grids not only need to be built out with simply far more capacity, but they also need to go to a very different topology. And that really is the next challenge, to get to a good system integration. That takes more time and is capital intensive.’

Ember Interim Managing Director Aditya Lolla contended that the Statistical Review observed the emergence of an electrified energy system which is powered by renewables. He said: ‘I'd like to be direct here. It's not happening just because of climate commitment. It's happening because of economics. It's also because of the technological growth and increasingly because of geopolitics as well. These are not niche technologies any more. On the other hand, the total energy supply growth, particularly in Asia, is being driven by electric vehicles and data centres requiring cheap and secure electricity.’

A new table in the Statistical Review estimates data centre demand based on projects. It reports that the consumption for data centres last year was 788TWh, with 40% of that alone in the US. Globally, data centre demand grew by 20% in 2025 and by over 25% in the US.

Lolla went on to consider what electrification means for the world energy system. He said: ‘These are markets now competing by solving for efficiency. So this transition from molecules to electrons is fundamentally an advance in efficiency, and security technologies like solar, batteries and EVs are increasingly becoming crucial to provide efficient domestic energy for decades, whereas in contrast, combustion wastes two-thirds of energy as heat. I think that that is where the world is starting to see that that's where the opportunity lies.’

He added: ‘As we progress in this transition, what we do need to measure also changes. We need to measure something new: useful energy, the actual work extracted from the system. A solar panel means nothing if the grid can’t deliver it when it’s needed. So that data granularity will actually help countries distinguish themselves as leaders.’

Wrapping up, Wayth concluded that energy was at a crossroads. He said: ‘On one hand, we have two consecutive years of all forms of energy reaching record highs and globally emissions continue to grow rather than fall. On the other hand, several potential inflection points have occurred: decline in overall power generation from coal globally, but notably also in China and India; renewables and low carbon meeting all new growth in electricity demand globally; a fall in gasoline and diesel demand in China; and, arguably most significantly, almost flat emissions growth from China. There are two forms of energy dominance playing out in the world. One for an abundance of fossil fuels which meets the insatiable demand for data centres and another where electrification driving massive system efficiency is also creating huge competitive advantage.’

• Further reading: ‘Research update on… electrification’. As the UK progresses towards its net zero targets, electrification is emerging as a vital pathway for industrial decarbonisation. Discover more about the opportunities for decarbonising industrial processes as well as the critical gaps that must be addressed to enable widespread implementation.
• ‘Vulnerabilities and opportunities: rebuilding the UK’s energy resilience’. In March this year, the UK’s energy infrastructure was formally recognised as critical to national security, reflecting a growing reality. However, the resilience of the UK’s electricity system is being tested as never before, writes Stephen Horrax, Director of Energy, UK & Ireland, at global engineering and consultancy firm Ramboll.