Global energy demand continues to rise faster than the deployment of renewables, and emissions reached new heights in 2025. The world is consuming more energy than it did in 1990, the baseline from which most nations measure progress toward their energy and climate targets. While only 47% of our energy is now derived from fossil fuels, the world is using more coal, gas and oil than ever before. 

Despite the housing crisis and cost of living increases that are wreaking havoc among those not able to keep up, most people in the Western World are better educated, have more technological devices, travel more, and have higher expectations of what they are entitled to.  

The rest of the world wants better lives too. 

The people of Burkino Faso used 400% more energy in 2024 than 1990, but that only amounts to 1,000 Terawatt hours (TWh) a year per person.

Spaniards are using 48% more than in 1990: 40,000 TWh. 

Canadians consumed 118,000 TWh. 

We – collectively, though not do much as in remote communities like Cortes or Quadra Islands – are among the world’s worst energy consumers. 

There are nations whose per capita energy usage is worse:  Qatar (319,000 TWh), Iceland (188,000 TWh) and Norway (129,000 TWh). 

The United States is further down the list (95,000 TWh). 

China has more than quadrupled its energy use since 1990 (from 7,000 TWh to 35,000 TWh per capita), but it is still less than a third of what Canadians use when measured per capita.

The Canada Energy Regulator explains our high consumption of electricity (which is a type of energy) as the result of:

• “the strong presence of energy-intensive industries;
• high demand for heat when weather is cold, or for air conditioning when weather is hot; and
• high income and purchasing power, along with affordable electricity.”

There are bright lights in this otherwise gloomy picture. China and India, who were among the world’s worst emitters, are bringing their emissions under control. Despite Donald Trump – who declared ‘we will not approve wind or farmer destroying solar; the days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” – American emissions have also dropped. In the EU, which continues to lead the world in the fight against rising global temperatures, emissions were 1.59% lower in 2025 than 2024.  

However, some of our planet’s natural defences are weakening. 

Cortes Island’s sparse population and relatively intact forest canopy undoubtedly more compensates for its continued reliance on firewood as a heating source. This would appear to be true of all the Discovery Islands, but the trees are not as robust everywhere.    

As a result of deforestation and the increase of forest fires in magnitude and frequency, British Columbia’s forests have been emitting rather than storing carbon since 2003.  This is also happening in the Amazon. Up until the past few years, forests absorbed roughly 30% of the emissions from fossil fuels. Recent reports suggest that, globally, the their ability to absorb emissions is only a quarter of it used to be.

The world’s oceans also appear to be losing their ability to sequester carbon. After observing a 10% drop in 2023, professor Galen McKinley from the  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,declared, “This reduction in the ocean’s CO₂ uptake is due to global warming, and it results in more CO₂ remaining in the atmosphere to promote even more warming.”

According to the Institute for Environmental Research and Education, “Renewable energy sources directly reduce climate change by replacing fossil fuels, drastically lowering greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming and its devastating consequences.”

The problem with that statement is that, so far, while their importance is diminishing, fossil fuels are not being replaced.

The IEA Global Energy Review 2025 declases, “In 2024, 80% of the growth in global electricity generation was provided by renewable sources and nuclear power. Together, they contributed 40% of total generation for the first time, with renewables alone supplying 32%.”

However electricity is not the only form of energy. For example, most people drive gas powered cars and some still use firewood to heat their homes.   

Thus the IEA continues, “Renewables accounted for the largest share of the growth in global energy supply (38%), followed by natural gas (28%), coal (15%), oil (11%) and nuclear (8%).”

Top image credit: Walking along Stephen street in Calgary – Photo by Bernard Scragg via Flickr (Public Domain)

Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:

To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:

• Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – cortescurrents-daily+subscribe@cortes.groups.io
• Weekly Digest cortescurrents – cortescurrents-weekly+subscribe@cortes.groups.io