China will drive a global surge in energy demand over the next two decades, with the country expected to account for more than a fifth of world demand by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.
In its annual World Energy Outlook report released on Tuesday, the global energy watchdog predicted that China’s demand would jump 75 per cent between 2008 and 2035, contributing 36 per cent to the projected growth in global energy use. Global demand would reach 16.74bn metric tonnes of oil equivalent by 2035.
“It is hard to overstate the growing importance of China in global energy,” said Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA. “How the country responds to the threats to global energy security and climate posed by rising fossil-fuel use will have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world.”