IEA at COP25 presses for stronger action on energy efficiency

(eceee news, 3 Dec 2019) The IEA will be participating in the UN Climate Change Conference, COP25, which kicked off yesterday in Madrid under the presidency of Chile. At COP 25, IEA presses for stronger action energy efficiency.

The energy sector produces the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, putting it at the heart of the climate change challenge. This is a key priority according to the IEA: Its data, analysis and solutions provide support and guidance for countries in their energy transitions. That includes decarbonising electricity, boosting innovation, tackling difficult sectors such as cooling and chemicals, and developing integrated policies.

Through the World Energy Outlook’s Sustainable Development Scenario, IEA describes a pathway that is fully compliant with the goals of the Paris Agreement while also maintaining a strong focus on the reliability and affordability of energy for a growing global population.

IEA leaders and experts will be participating in events throughout the two weeks of COP25. A focal point for IEA will be 10 December, which the Chilean Presidency of COP25 has designated as Energy Day. The IEA has launched a dedicated COP25 page.

Pushing for stronger action on energy efficiency

Energy efficiency has huge potential to help reduce carbon emissions. But governments need to take stronger policy action to reverse the worrying slowdown in global energy efficiency improvements, according to a public survey conducted by the International Energy Agency. The survey was carried out to inform the first meeting of the Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, which takes place Wednesday.

Launched in July, the 23-member Global Commission is led by Honorary Chair Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and composed of national leaders, current and former ministers, business executives and international experts. It is tasked with producing recommendations by next summer to accelerate global progress on energy efficiency, which declined last year to its slowest rate since the start of this decade.

The IEA is providing analytical support for the commission’s work, including conducting a global public survey on energy efficiency which received more than 800 responses from 80 countries. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions was identified by respondents as the most compelling reason to pursue greater levels of energy efficiency. Read more about the survey’s results and the commission’s work.

Learn more about World Energy Outlook 2019

If you’re interested in going deeper into the findings of our flagship publication World Energy Outlook 2019, some of the report’s key authors will be holding webinars about aspects of their work over the next two weeks.

Continuing the IEA’s work for the G20

The IEA recently hosted two energy efficiency events related to Japan’s presidency of the G20. The third workshop of the G20 Energy End-Use Data and Energy Efficiency Metrics initiative took place on 21 and 22 November at the IEA headquarters in Paris under the title “Uncovering the role of digitalisation for energy efficiency indicators.”

This initiative – co-led by the IEA and the French government through its national energy efficiency agency (ADEME) – aims to bring professionals together to develop international cooperation on energy end-use data and energy efficiency metrics by sharing best practices and experiences on the topic.

The two-day event was preceded by a half-day workshop on 20 November on global energy efficiency benchmarking. Aimed at government and industry experts, it focused on the specific processes and challenges associated with collecting data and benchmarking energy efficiency in energy-intensive industry sub-sectors. More information on the IEA’s work on energy efficiency data is available here.