Global Energy Tracker

The Global Energy Tracker allows you to gauge trends in energy use across the globe through time.

The charts below compile data on energy-consumption trends in seventy-nine countries going back to 1990. Each chart shows how much energy a given country consumes from nine different sources.

The charts display each country’s consumption data for each energy source by the amount of exajoules consumed, by exajoules consumed per capita, and as a share of that country’s total energy consumption. (Exajoules are a measure of energy; one exajoule is roughly equivalent to California’s annual electricity use.) Use the rightmost drop-down menu above the chart to toggle among those views. The leftmost drop-down menu lets you select groups of countries for display. You can create a custom list of countries or filter countries by region. Hover over the charts to see a country’s consumption within particular years.

As the legend below indicates, five energy sources covered by the tracker—coal, oil, natural gas, biofuels, and other (unclassified)—emit high levels of carbon dioxide. Four others—solar, wind, nuclear, and hydroelectric—are low-carbon emitters. Use the buttons above the charts to shade energy sources by high-carbon and low-carbon status, or, alternatively, to color each source individually. (High-carbon sources are grey; low-carbon ones, green.)

Together, the charts reveal significant trends in global energy usage. They show, for example, that high-carbon energy sources—especially oil—are the world’s dominant source of power. On average, 84 percent of tracker countries’ energy comes from high-carbon sources, and 33 percent and 28 percent from oil and coal respectively.

Low-carbon sources, however, are on the rise, particularly in developed countries. Since 2010, the United States’ low-carbon consumption share climbed from 13 to 17 percent. The United Kingdom’s low-carbon consumption share has gone from 8 to 19 percent. China, the world’s largest energy consumer, saw its low-carbon share rise from 8 to 17 percent. Rapid cost declines for low-carbon sources such as wind and solar, beneficiaries of technological innovation, explain much of the change. Still, low-carbon power’s share has actually declined in some rich countries, such as Japan—where it has fallen from 17 to 14 percent.

Some tracker countries rely highly on low-carbon energy. Twenty-four percent of Canada’s energy and 29 percent of Brazil’s, for example, comes from hydroelectric—compared with 8 percent for the world on average. France derives over a third of its energy from nuclear, which is down from 40 percent of its energy in 2015. Other countries remain heavy users of higher-carbon sources. China derives 54 percent of its power from coal—although that figure is down from 68 percent a decade ago.

The map below aids in viewing trends in energy use across regions. Each country is shaded according to how much energy it consumes, with darker colors signaling greater use. Hover over a particular country to see its latest data, and, to view changes over time, use the slider above the map to adjust the date. You can use the leftmost drop-down menu above the map to select which energy source to view. The rightmost drop-down menu allows you to see the data in exajoules, exajoules per capita, or shares of total consumption.

The map highlights, among other trends, how global energy consumption fell nearly 4 percent between 2019 and 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent economic slowdown. Energy consumption is today 5 percent above 2019 levels. 

The final large chart below allows you zoom in on the historical energy use of each country, one at a time. Use the leftmost drop-down menu to choose which country to view.

Please also visit our Global Monetary Policy Tracker, Global Imbalances Tracker, Global Growth Tracker, Global Trade Tracker, Sovereign Risk Tracker, and Central Bank Currency Swaps Tracker.

Data Notes

The map and charts above show energy-consumption data for countries, calculated with the Energy Institute's Statistical Review of Energy. All data is annual, and historical data is revised annually by the Energy Institute. Countries’ consumption levels for a particular energy source are rounded down to zero when those levels fall below 0.005 exajoules.