In an address at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas, President Irfaan Ali challenged world leaders and industry experts to confront the hard truth that renewable energy alone cannot meet the world’s growing demand for energy, as he underscored important role fossil fuel is also playing in meeting that demand.
President Ali said while decarbonization, renewable energy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are critical to securing a cleaner future, the issues of volume, scale, cost and reliability must also be addressed.
Noting that global energy is not only about transition, but also about volume and sufficiency, the President Ali noted that although global energy supply has increased steadily since 1965, the demand for energy has also risen relentlessly.
It was explained that since 2010, the demand has accelerated at a pace resulting in a widening gap between the energy the world requires and the energy it produces.
“The widening gap has placed sustained pressure on global energy reserves. It has contributed to price volatility across markets. It has reinforced a sellers’ market dynamic in energy communities and it has heightened the risk of instability in both developed and developing countries. It has also revealed a fundamental truth – the global energy transition is not only about transition, it is about volume and sufficiency. The world does not simply need cleaner energy; it needs significantly more energy,” President Ali said.
Between 2021 and 2024, the growth in energy demand and supply has been uneven across regions, but in many instances, the demand surpasses the supply.
In Asia-Pacific countries, energy demand grew by 3.95%, in South and Central America the annual growth in demand is approximately 3.99%, while in Africa demand grew by 3.24%, and 1.77%in North America, the President reported. He said Europe was the only region with negative growth in both demand and supply, largely due to structural changes.
“Taken together, these regional dynamics point to a clear and consistent conclusion – the energy gap is widening. Demand continues to outpace supply and the global energy system is under increasing strain. This reality must shape how we think about the energy transition,” President Ali said.
He said due to the rising demand, and climate concern, the world has seen an acceleration of energy transition.
In the 1990s, renewable energy accounted for about 3% of the global energy mix. However, since then countries around the world have incentivize their systems to focus on renewable technology to advance energy security and climate targets.
“Despite the rapid expansion of renewable energy, fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy system. As of 2024 fossil fuels accounted for more than 80% of the global energy mix. This is not a contradiction. It is a reflection of the scale of global energy demand. The world is not replacing one energy system with another in a linear fashion. It is building a new system while continuing to rely on the existing system to meet the majority of its energy needs. At the same time, the composition of fossil fuel use is also evolving,” the President said.
President Ali said while renewables are expanding, they are not sufficient to meet demand, as fossil fuels continue to play a central role.
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