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IEA stresses need for urgent action on energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is centrally important to improving the lives of all people, providing affordable and reliable energy access, supporting economic growth and resilience, enhancing security of supply and accelerating clean energy transitions. A strong, early focus on energy efficiency is essential for delivering a net zero energy system by 2050.

To support stronger action on efficiency, the IEA has designed a policy toolkit for governments, launched at the IEA’s seventh Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency in June. The toolkit provides a practical approach to accelerate action on energy efficiency by guiding governments in the design of effective policy measures, the support of policy decisions and the delivery of policy actions.

The toolkit comprises two parts: The first is ten strategic principles, based on the recommendations of the Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, that bring together key learnings from global experience as to how to maximise the positive impact of all energy efficiency policies and programmes. The second is a set of sectoral policy packages that highlight the key policies available to governments, how they can be integrated into an effective overall coherent suite of policies and actions to deliver faster and stronger efficiency gains.

The policy packages present a practical approach to policy design and implementation built on the foundation of three essential elements: regulation, information and incentives. They highlight how combinations of these three types of measures can combine into the most effective package.

Based on IEA analysis of best practice and the work of the Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, the following ten strategic principles can help guide policy makers to enhance and expand their energy efficiency policies and programmes, and to quickly accelerate energy efficiency gains through new and stronger policy actions. These include prioritising cross-cutting energy efficiency action for its economic; social and environmental benefits; acting to unlock efficiency's job creation potential; creating greater demand for energy efficiency solutions; focusing on finance in the wider context of scaling up action; leveraging digital innovation to enhance system-wide efficiency, making the public sector lead by example; engaging all parts of society, leveraging behavioural insights for more effective policy; strengthening international collaboration and finally, raising global energy efficiency ambition.