Last week, the IEA held its third annual global conference on energy efficiency in Paris. The event brought together over 2o0 energy professionals from over 60 countries. From left to right: Dr Ajay Mathur (Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute, India), Mr Masakazu Toyoda, Dr Faith Birol (Executive Director, International Energy Agency), Dr Laurence Tubiana (Chief Executive Officer, European Climate Foundation), and Ms Joyce Henry (Director General, Natural Resources Canada) IEA Photo.
Energy efficiency could boost households’ incomes, cut pollution and associated deaths
The International Energy Agency held its third annual global conference on energy efficiency in Paris last week, bringing together more than 200 energy professionals from over 60 countries, to focus on the critical role that energy efficiency plays in the global energy transition, as well as opportunities that can be addressed.
The event brought together energy ministers, high-level officials from the public and private sector, as well as a wide range of organizations.
Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, also launched an online platform for energy efficiency data and information, which showcases the depth of the IEA’s expertise on the topic.
According to Birol, energy efficiency’s role as the “first fuel,” highlighting that by implementing the cost-effective energy efficiency actions available today, the global economy could double while greenhouse gas emissions would be 12 per cent lower between now and 2040.
The finding, which was published in the IEA’s Energy Efficiency 2018 report recently is significant in light of the recent IPCC report noting the short timeframe for achieving global climate change mitigation goals.
Dr Birol noted that other benefits of the efficient world modelled in the report included households being better off by half a trillion dollars per year, while local air pollutants and associated deaths would be reduced by a third.
The IEA says it is doing three key things to support countries take actions to realize these benefits.
First, through its new online platform, the IEA is providing data, analysis and information for policy makers to learn about efficiency policies being used around the world, their impacts and lessons learned.
Second, the IEA is building global skills and capacity, through its training programme for emerging economies, which has trained more than 1000 policy makers from over 70 countries over the last four years.
And third, in partnership with the European Investment Bank, the IEA will launch a new initiative in early 2019, bringing together global leaders from international financial institutions (IFIs) to explore ways to scale up energy efficiency finance.
Dr Birol described the new initiative on finance as “a great opportunity to strengthen the global dialogue on financing the investments required to deliver energy efficiency at scale”.
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