​The report suggests that five key stories emerge from the 2023 data, starting with record global energy consumption, with coal and oil pushing fossil fuels and their emissions to record levels. "Global primary energy consumption overall was at a record absolute high, up 2 per cent on the previous year to 620 Exajoules (EJ). Global fossil fuel consumption reached a record high, up 1.5 per cent to 505 EJ (driven by coal up 1.6 per cent, oil up 2 per cent to above 100 million barrels for first time, while gas was flat)," said the report.