World’s highest energy users: China and U.S.

WWF considers that ranking countries on crude figures of energy consumption is not the core, rather the more important issues relate to the overall trend and the policies countries are adopting to reduce the carbon-intensity of their energy mix and the energy-intensity of the economy.
“We should not get carried away by the ranking which is not as important as the information on whether the energy consumption trends in China, the U.S., or indeed any other country, are indicating an increase, decrease or remaining the same,” said Dr Stephan Singer, Director of WWF’s Global Energy Programme.
Countries such as China have put in place progressive policies relating to energy conservation to overcome oil import dependence and are outpacing the world on new renewable energy projects.
Additionally, we have to note the wider economic reasons underlying this trend where recession has hit the OECD countries – including the U.S. – more than the emerging economies, such as China.
“If it wasn’t for the recession, this ranking could be very different. The rating should be seen against population size and other economic trends,” added Dr Singer. “The U.S. is still one of the world’s largest energy consumer per capita, with the average American using five times as much energy as the average Chinese citizen – something which this crude ranking obscures.”
Fossil fuel is becoming increasingly unsustainable from the point of view of climate change including risks to freshwater and biodiversity as well as to economic volatility of fossil fuel prices.
It will be crucial that all high energy-consuming countries put in place concrete and reliable policies on energy conservation and renewables which also will incur emissions reduction and move away from reliance on oil, gas and coal.
Read related articles:
Why IEA names China world’s top energy user
Outpacing U.S., China now the world’s largest gorger of energy
Find out more about WWF’s Energy work.