Demand for electricity around the world is rising faster than expectedokebet, making it harder for countries to slash their emissions and keep global warming in check, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.

Over the next decade, the world is poised to add the equivalent of Japan’s annual electricity demand to grids each year, driven by surging power needs for new factories, electric vehicles, air-conditioners and data centers, according to the agency’s annual World Energy Outlook, a comprehensive report on global energy trends.

In all, the agency now expects global electricity demand to be 6 percent higher in 2035 than it forecast last year.

It’s not all dire news for climate change: The report concludes that countries are likely to build enough low-emissions power plants by the end of the decade — primarily solar, wind and nuclear power — to match that rise in demand. Rapid growth in renewable energy should at least prevent global emissions from rising drastically and could cause coal, oil and natural gas use to peak this decade.

But to stop global warming, many countries have pledged to reduce their emissions to zero by around midcentury. That goal is slipping out of reach: Countries would need to build low-carbon electricity sources twice as fast as they’re currently doing between now and 2035 to meet their climate targets.

“In energy history, we’ve witnessed the age of coal and the age of oil,” said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency. “We’re now moving at speed into the age of electricity, which will define the global energy system going forward.”

A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals

A boom in data centers and factories is straining electric grids and propping up fossil fuels.

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