World Energy Outlook 2025

This annual report from the International Energy Agency can help you better understand trends in global energy use. It outlines three main long-term scenarios, exploring how different energy futures might impact energy security, affordability, and sustainability. Two of these scenarios set starting conditions and then examine where they lead – the "Current Policies Scenario (CPS)" and the "Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS)." A third, the "Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario," maps out a pathway to achieve specific energy and climate-related goals. The report also outlines an additional scenario, the "Accelerating Clean Cooking and Electricity Services Scenario (ACCESS)", which provides a new roadmap to achieve universal access to electricity and clean cooking.

It is important to note that these scenarios are based on many normative assumptions, and that warming is happening faster than expected; we have already exceeded 1.5 °C for more than a year. Further, these projections do not account for increasing natural emissions resulting from earth system destabilisation. That said, this report does offer useful macro-level considerations related to how geopolitical tensions, energy deployment, and electricity demand might affect the energy transition. While the full report is 500+ pages, we recommend strategy and sustainability practitioners review the executive summary.