WEO 2025: A New Energy Reality Defined by Electrification, Critical Minerals and System Resilience

The latest World Energy Outlook 2025 from the International Energy Agency highlights a profound global shift: electricity is set to become the dominant energy carrier, while access to critical minerals and resilient supply chains emerges as a central pillar of energy security.

According to the new World Energy Outlook 2025, global demand for energy services is rising due to urbanisation, digitalisation, population growth, and the expansion of AI-driven infrastructure. In this context, secure, clean and affordable energy becomes one of the key strategic challenges for governments and industries worldwide.

The report outlines several megatrends that will shape the global energy landscape over the coming decades:

1. The rise of electricity as the world’s backbone energy carrier

Electricity demand is expected to grow by around 40–50% by 2035. This growth is driven by electric mobility, heat pumps, data centres, digital services and industrial automation. Electricity becomes the foundation of modern economies, transforming how sectors operate and how energy systems must be designed.

2. Rapid expansion of renewables – and new pressure on critical materials

Solar, wind and other renewables continue to outpace all other sources in deployment. Yet the resilience of this transition depends increasingly on critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, rare earths and copper. Ensuring reliable, diversified and circular supply chains is now one of the defining challenges of the energy transition.

3. Energy security redefined

Security no longer concerns only fuels, but also grid resilience, digital vulnerabilities, extreme weather events and material supply risks. This broadens the scope of energy policy and underscores the importance of circular economy strategies to reduce dependency on primary raw materials.

4. Shifting global energy demand

Most future energy demand growth will come from emerging and developing economies. This shift brings both opportunities and challenges and makes international cooperation even more critical.

What does this mean for circularity and the future of industry?

The findings reaffirm that the energy transition is not only a technological shift but a materials transition. Ensuring the sustainability, reuse and recovery of critical materials becomes a strategic priority.