Global Fossil Fuel Consumption Hits Record High Despite Renewable Growth

The increasing demand of fossil fuels regardless of renewable energy usage can be used as a sticking point to lower the use of carbon energy

As per the Global Carbon Budget, Fossil Fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions hit records of an all-time high last year. Despite renewable energy having simultaneously scaled more than before, the consumption continued to increase. This was an annual review of world energy by the Energy Institute. 

Driving emissions to more than 40 gigatons of Carbon Dioxide for the first time the fossil fuel consumption rose to 1.5% higher than the amount in 2022. The increasing demand of fossil fuels regardless of renewable energy usage can be used as a sticking point to lower the use of carbon energy. The impact on droughts, floods and rise in temperature can be extreme with the global temperature increasing to 1.5C (2.7F) say scientists. 

At the same time, renewables’ share of energy consumption hit 14.6%, up 0.4% from the previous year. The CEO of the Energy Institute, Nick Wayth said the economic developments and improvements in emerging companies continue to drive fossil growth and accelerate quality of life while the demand for fossil fuel is peaking in advanced economies. 

“The progress of the transition is slow, but the big picture masks diverse energy stories playing out across different geographies,” Wayth said in a report.

56% of the total energy consumption is used by the world’s southern part while the usage is increasing twice the rate of the global average. China and India also saw big increases in the use of natural gas, with consumption rising 7%, according to the report. 

China alone accounted for 565 of the world’s total energy consumption and is by far the largest consumer of coal. On the other hand India exceeded North America and Europe combined for the first time in their amount of energy consumption. In the year 1965, Europe and North America’s coal consumption fell to its lowest levels. Us saw a dip by 17  which further halved in the past decade. 

The developing economies are continuing to increase their dependency on coal, gas and oil while the energy industry emissions have reached peak in well developed economies as founded by the Energy Institute, the global professional body for the energy sector.

From the top view, last year fossil fuel made up 81.5% of the world’s primary energy which had fallen by 0.5% from the year before that which was at 82%. This happened despite the wind and solar farms generating recorded amounts of clean electricity. 

The expansion of wind and solar is expected to continue and even accelerate – particularly if the global goal of tripling renewable capacity by 2030 is to be met. When combined with a recovery in worldwide hydropower output following a series of catastrophic droughts, fossil fuel power may begin to fall structurally in 2024.

The new report in 2023 suggests that wind and solar energy combined add more energy in the mix when compared to any other form. The combined 4.9EJ of new energy from wind and solar in 2023 accounted for 40% of the overall increase in global demand, ahead of oil (39%) and coal (20%).

A report by KPMG and Kearney stated that wind and solar power moved up by 13% in the previous year reaching a new record of 4748 terawatts hours. Even then this did not reach the target and match the world’s consumption of primary usage demand which has risen by 2% only to meet 100m barrels a day for the first time. It is news for all that the new forms of energy have outpaced each of the fossil fuels for the first time in history and continued to remain the world’s dominant source of energy. 

Nuclear and renewables among other low carbon courses of low energy at the present date take up the high record of 39% of the world’s electricity supplies where coal takes over 35%. Gas further makes up 23% of the mix while the major part of the world’s electricity is generated by fossil fuels.