WEF 2025: India will play a pivotal role in clean energy transition, says Fatih Birol – EQ
In Short : At WEF 2025, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), emphasized India’s pivotal role in the global clean energy transition. He highlighted India’s rapid renewable energy expansion, innovative policies, and commitment to net-zero goals. Birol praised India’s leadership in green technologies, crucial for driving sustainable growth and addressing climate change globally.
In Detail : Speaking to CNBC-TV18 at Davos 2025, Birol highlighted that clean energy investments in India have surged by 40% in 2024, positioning the country among global leaders in renewable energy.
“India’s economy continues to grow at a robust pace, and its commitment to environmental responsibilities as a developing nation is commendable,” Birol stated. He expressed optimism that India would further strengthen its focus on electric vehicles, complementing its renewable energy efforts.
Turning to the global oil markets, Birol projected a “comfortable year” in 2025, driven by market fundamentals of supply, demand, and price stability. Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, including conflicts in the Middle East, oil prices have remained stable at around $70 per barrel. This resilience, Birol explained, contrasts sharply with historical price surges during smaller conflicts.
The demand for oil is waning, largely due to slower economic growth in China and the increasing adoption of electric vehicles. Meanwhile, production from the Americas—particularly the United States, Canada, and Brazil—continues to grow significantly. Birol also highlighted the natural gas sector, forecasting increased stability starting in 2026 as substantial liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the US and Qatar enter the market. According to Birol, countries like India, a major LNG importer, must align their strategies with this anticipated influx, he advised.
Birol described 2025 as a breakout year for nuclear energy, marking the highest levels of electricity generation from nuclear power in history. He cited three key drivers: the construction of over 60 nuclear power plants worldwide—the highest in three decades, a surge in Small Modular Reactor (SMR) development, and nuclear’s reputation as a clean and secure energy source.
“Nuclear energy is making a strong comeback. As countries seek sustainable and reliable energy solutions, nuclear’s role in the energy mix is set to expand significantly,” Birol said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to play a transformative role in the energy sector, Birol noted, functioning both as a significant consumer of energy and as a tool for enhancing efficiency.
Data centres, a critical component of AI infrastructure, requires constant electricity, driving global energy demand. Simultaneously, AI technologies can optimise energy systems, reduce costs, and improve battery chemistry.
“AI is not just consuming energy but also making our systems smarter and more efficient,” Birol explained, highlighting its potential to revolutionise energy consumption and production.
Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.
Q: What’s the outlook now, as far as the energy markets are concerned, in 2025 given all the developments that have taken place?
Birol: Huge geopolitical tensions around the world, but when we look at the market fundamentals — supply, demand and price. Normally, we should expect a comfortable year 2025.
In terms of oil, for example, demand of oil is getting weaker because of Chinese economic slowing down mainly, and a lot of electric cars coming in the picture.
In terms of the production, we see huge amount of oil coming from US, Canada, Brazil, from the Americas continent. And as a result, we expect a more comfortable market.
In the Middle East there is a war, and oil prices are still $70. In the past when there was one tenth of this tension or conflict, oil prices had rocketed up. Therefore we expect comfortable oil markets, and same for natural gas markets, especially starting from 2026 and beyond, because again, huge amount of LNG is coming from US and Qatar from 2026 to 2028. Countries like India, a major LNG importer, should match their calculations according to the new wave of LNG supply coming from these countries.
Q: Let’s talk about the implications and the impact of what’s happening with sanctions on Russia, and how that’s expected to play out, as far as the energy markets are concerned?
Birol: The sanctions on Russia, how far it will go and how long it is going to last, is still not clear. It’s also not clear if there will be additional sanctions on Iran. This can have an implications for the oil picture. But if you leave aside these geopolitical issues, and look at the market fundamentals, I expect 2025 would be a rather comfortable market.
Q: What is the promise that President Trump is making now and how that could potentially impact the energy markets as well?
Birol: These are very new announcements coming from United States. We need time to see how these are going to affect the markets. One needs to look at it and study the impact.
Q: We have got the India Energy Week coming up in February. Both in terms of the market, also in terms of renewable capacity and the aspirations that India has, how are you looking at the story today?
Birol: India’s economy needs to continue to grow at a good pace. India is a very important member of the international community, and has obligations for addressing the environmental issues as a developing nation. But in that context, I expect India Energy Week will be very important, especially highlighting the growing role of clean energy playing in India. According to our numbers, the clean energy investments in India in 2024 increased by 40%. As such, India is one of the global leaders of clean energy investments around the world especially for renewables.
But my expectation from India is hopefully it will soon give an even more serious look at the electric cars.
Q: You also believe that 2025, is going to be a breakout year as far as nuclear energy is concerned. In fact, you put out a report saying exactly that. What’s the case there?
Birol: After the Fukushima accident in Japan, the appetite for nuclear around the world died down a bit, but three years ago, we said nuclear may make a comeback. Now, as of this year, 2025 I can confirm you that nuclear is making a comeback, and a strong comeback. I will give a couple of reasons for that, 2025 this year, the amount of electricity produced from nuclear power will be the highest in the history, we have never seen such a big growth. Second, there are more than 60 nuclear power plants which are under construction around the world, the highest number since 30 years, three decades. And the third one is Small Module Reactors according to our analysis, they are going to hit the market around 2030. So when I put all of these together, nuclear being a secure and clean electricity source, I see bright prospects for nuclear power.
Q: Let’s look at some of the risks as well at this point in time, overall, as far as the markets are concerned, you talked about electric mobility. You also talked about data centres and of course, what AI is doing. What is that going to mean in terms of consumption and also meeting needs of some of these growing areas?
Birol: AI will have two different roles in the energy system. On one hand, for the data centres, to run them, you need electricity 24/7, so it will be another driver of global electricity consumption in many countries where there is AI. The second role is, artificial intelligence can help us to run our electricity systems in the most optimal way. AI can help us to find the most cost-effective way of battery chemistry and then bring the price down. So, AI can play two roles, on one hand, a real consumer of energy, and at the same time, on the other side, making energy use and energy production much more efficient and much smarter.
