Global energy-mix remains “stubbornly carbon-intensive”

London – The global energy system is caught in a “troubling contradiction”: Renewable power is expanding rapidly, electrification is transforming transport, and battery storage is helping grids absorb cleaner electricity. Yet fossil fuels remain dominant, energy demand continues to grow, and emissions are still rising.

That’s according to Selene Law, head of the statistical review of world energy at the Energy Institute, reviewing the institute's '2026 Review of World Energy'* at a Cadence First Friday Club press briefing.

Global energy supply exceeded 600 exajoules, increasing by about 1.6%, as every major energy-source grew for a second consecutive year, Law set out at the event held 11 Sept in London.

Renewables, she noted, recorded the fastest ‘absolute growth’, but they were largely added to an expanding system rather than replacing fossil fuels.

Solar delivered the strongest performance, accounting for 71% of renewable-energy growth and increasing by 30% year-on-year.

“Falling panel prices have made solar one of the most competitive sources of new electricity. Economics is now driving adoption as powerfully as environmental policy,” explained the presenter.

Electricity demand, meanwhile, grew by around 3%, nearly twice the rate of total energy supply, Law commenting: “As vehicles, heating and industrial processes move towards electricity, the power sector is becoming central to decarbonisation.”

Leading this transformation in China, where electrification has also contributed to declining road-fuel demand – reportedly six times lower than in the US – including via advances in ‘electric heavy transport’.

Battery deployment is equally important, Law explaining that “grid-scale and behind-the-meter storage can balance variable solar and wind generation, reducing dependence on gas-fired power. “

The transition is consequently driving demand for critical minerals: annual lithium production has risen from a negligible level to about 292 kilotonnes over the past decade.

Carbon-intensive

However, law went on to describe the underlying energy-mix as remaining “stubbornly carbon-intensive”: Fossil fuels still provide around 86% of final energy supply, down just slightly from around 89% a decade ago. Natural gas alone supplies roughly a quarter of global energy demand.

Regionally, Europe has invested heavily in renewables and, particularly in France, nuclear power. The oil- and gas-rich Middle East has made less progress in diversifying its energy-mix. Developing countries face an additional barrier: limited access to affordable capital for clean infrastructure.

Law concluded with the “uncomfortable finding” that emissions increased again in 2025, adding that “renewable energy is making a difference, but rising demand is overwhelming its gains.”

Governments, she urged, “must therefore measure success by fossil-fuel displacement, not installations alone. Expanding transmission, scaling storage, electrifying transport and industry, and financing clean infrastructure in developing economies are essential.

“Until renewable energy delivers sustained declines in fossil-fuel consumption and emissions, the world will remain trapped between a cleaner future and a growing carbon-intensive present.”

*Read the Energy Institute’s 2026 Review of World Energy