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[Episode #280] – Statistical Review of World Energy 2026

Jul 15 2026

The Statistical Review of World Energy 2026 is out, offering the first complete look at global energy data for 2025. The report's 75th edition, now presented in partnership with the energy think tank Ember, reveals a year in which demand for every form of energy hit a new record high.

But growing overall demand, even for fossil fuels, doesn't mean the energy transition isn't happening. Renewables grew more than any other form of energy for the first time outside of a recession, with solar power accounting for 72% of the increase. And global electrification reached a tipping point, with electricity demand growing 3%, faster than energy supply overall. China alone added the equivalent of Germany's entire annual electricity consumption in a single year. These are just a few of the indications that the future of global energy use is increasingly electric, even as regional paths differ.

In 2025, rising electricity demand was met entirely by low-carbon sources, with renewables and hydro overtaking coal as the largest source of generation. Fossil generation fell overall, demonstrating that fossil fuels are being substituted rather than supplemented.

Solar and storage are clearly taking the lead in the global energy system, and they're not looking back, as global battery storage capacity grew 66% last year alone. Solar already produces more electricity than gas in major parts of the world, and its lead in power generation will only grow.

In this episode, we are joined by Aditya Lolla, Interim Managing Director at Ember, and Euan Graham, Senior Electricity and Data Analyst at Ember and a lead author of the report, to share the key findings from this new update on all the energy data that matters.

We'll dig into the report's new total energy supply measure, which we explored in Episode #259. We'll hear how China's road fuel demand is now falling, redefining the assumed long tai

Guest #1:

Aditya Lolla is Interim Managing Director and Asia Programme Director for Ember.

Aditya Lolla is Interim Managing Director at Ember, the global energy think tank. Over the past nine months, he has led the organisation while continuing to shape Ember’s work on Asia. He was previously responsible for developing Ember’s strategy and workstreams in Asia, building Ember’s data-led research portfolio on the region and leveraging it to support governments across the region in accelerating the clean energy transition. His work focuses on how clean electricity, electrification and energy security are reshaping energy systems globally.

Earlier in his career, he managed large renewable power projects that covered about 50,000 homes in India and led on a World Bank funded project to develop new bioenergy technologies. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford and an MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh.

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityalolla

On the Web: https://ember-energy.org/people/aditya-lolla/

Guest #2:

Euan Graham is Senior Electricity and Data Analyst for Ember.

Euan re-joined Ember in 2024, having been part of the original Ember team when it was founded. He is part of the Global Programme team, where he leads work on electrification.

He has been an author for several of Ember’s flagship reports, including the Global Electricity Review and China Energy Transition Review, and will be a lead author of the Statistical Review of World Energy, in partnership with the Energy Institute.

Euan holds a masters degree in Physics from the University of Oxford, where he specialised in analysing global climate models. In previous roles, Euan led work on oil and gas phaseout at the independent energy thinktank E3G, and on electricity market reform at Citizens Advice, the consumer advocate for the energy sector in England and Wales.

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/euan-graham-783774111/).

On the Web: https://ember-energy.org/people/euan-graham/

Geek rating: 6

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[Episode #265] – IEA World Energy Outlook 2025

Dec 17 2025

Mini Episode

In November, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) report. It was greeted with cheers from the fossil fuel industry and jeers from energy transitionistas, but there is much more to the report than either camp's narratives suggest. So Chris returned to IEA headquarters in Paris to discuss the WEO with lead author Tim Gould, as he has done for the past two years (Episode #215 and Episode #248), to get the story straight from the source.

What he found is that the revived Current Policies Scenario (CPS) shows what could happen if the energy transition is stopped in its tracks and fossil fuel demand continues to grow, as the Trump administration has stated it would like to see. While other scenarios explore continued progress in energy transition consistent with recent reports, where oil demand still peaks around 2030, and coal demand falls before the decade ends.

The report's updated global data tells another story. The oil industry spends $550 billion annually on upstream development, and 90% of that just keeps production flat. Meanwhile, 45% of new heavy freight trucks sold in China this year run on electricity or LNG, not diesel. And in the Middle East, solar is increasingly displacing oil for electricity generation and desalination of water. In Saudi Arabia alone, this could free up over a million barrels of daily consumption.

In fact, in this year's report, IEA declares that "the Age of Electricity is here." For the first time, more than half of all energy sector investment is flowing into electricity. Renewables grow "faster than any other major energy source in all scenarios."

The picture is clear: the energy transition is still going strong.

Guest:

Tim Gould is co-head of the World Energy Outlook series at the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). He designs and directs the work together with the IEA’s Chief Energy Modeller and contributes to the Outlook as a principal author. He also oversees the Agency’s analysis of energy investment and finance, including the World Energy Investment series. Tim has been at the IEA since 2008, and joined initially as a specialist on Russian and Caspian energy before going across to join the World Energy Outlook team under the (then) Chief Economist, Fatih Birol, who is now the IEA’s Executive Director. Before IEA, he worked on European and Eurasian energy issues in Brussels and also spent ten years working in Eastern Europe, primarily in Ukraine. He studied at Oxford University and Johns Hopkins SAIS.

On Twitter: @tim_gould_

On the Web: https://www.iea.org

Geek rating: 8

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[Episode #83] – Revisiting Germany’s Energiewende

Nov 28 2018

Mini Episode

Germany gets a lot of criticism for its Energiewende (energy transition). For not phasing out coal quickly enough. For paying “too much” for solar early in the worldwide solar boom they helped create. Why are they phasing out nuclear at a time when the rest of the world is trying to maintain their existing nuclear capacity because it’s carbon-free? For having the highest electricity prices in Europe. Surely these are all signs that its energy transition has been a failure, right?

To the contrary: Germany’s energy transition is proceeding along on plan and on schedule; they plan to phase out their coal entirely in just four years; and they plan to run their entire grid on renewables. Germans’ energy bills are about on par with those of Americans, and the transition enjoys widespread popular support. Our guest in this episode directs a think tank in Berlin that aims to make the Energiewende a success, and explains why the critics are wrong.

Geek rating: 2

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[Episode #19] – Distributed Renewables in Latin America and Beyond

Jun 15 2016

Full Episode

Finance geeks, this episode is for you! Latin America has had one of the fastest-growing renewable energy markets on the planet for the past several years, but nobody ever talks about it. We aim to correct that in this wide-ranging interview with Adam James, Deputy Director of Global Strategy and Policy with SolarCity. Who’s got the hottest auction design? Who’s growing at eye-popping rates? Who screwed up their incentive program so badly that nobody wants to invest there anymore? And what are some outside-the-box ideas about how to get capital flowing into distributed energy systems in the developing world? Plus: oblique Prince references! (RIP)

Geek rating: 8

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