India was likely to see the world’s biggest rise in energy demand this decade. The demand, which would climb by 3 per cent annually, would be driven by urbanisation and industrialisation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its World Energy Outlook released on Thursday. 

While the push for renewable energy will see India meeting as much as 60 per cent of the growth in demand for power, coal will continue to meet a third of overall energy demand by 2030 and another quarter will be met by oil. 

“India becomes the world’s most populous country by 2025, and, combined with the twin forces of urbanisation and industrialisation, this underpins rapid growth in energy demand, which rises by more than 3 per cent per year in the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS) from 2021 to 2030,” IEA said. “It sees the largest increase in energy demand of any country.”

Even though India continues to make great strides with deployment of renewable energy and efficiency policies, the sheer scale of its development means that the combined import bill for fossil fuels doubles over the next two decades, with oil by far the largest component. 

“This points to continued risks to energy security,” IEA said. 

IEA said that the world was in the midst of the first global energy crisis, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“Pressures in markets predated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Russia’s actions have turned a rapid economic recovery from the pandemic – which strained all manner of global supply chains, including energy – into full-blown energy turmoil,” the agency added.