IAEA Releases a Report on the Value of Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency

These days, it seems that no matter the conference or forum, there is a high level of awareness on these two points:

• The link between energy efficiency (EE) and climate change mitigation through GHG reduction has been well established
• The pace of EE projects in buildings and homes needs to expand greatly, and this needs to happen quickly!

On this last point, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE) released a report highlighting the Value of Urgent action on Energy Efficiency at the conclusion of their 7^th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency.
 
Although traditionally, the IEAE is not the first organisation you may think of that would espouse the virtues of Energy Efficiency, given the high costs of energy and energy use worldwide, this report underscores the vital role of energy efficiency and energy savings in meeting today’s crises by immediately addressing the crippling impacts of the spike in energy prices, strengthening energy security, and tackling climate change.
 
Moreover, the IEA’s analysis seems to indicate that doubling the current global rate of energy intensity improvement to 4% a year has the potential to avoid 95 exajoules a year of final energy consumption by the end of this decade (this is equivalent to China’s annual energy use). The IEA estimates that this scale of savings would reduce global CO2 emissions by an additional 5 billion tonnes a year by 2030, about a third of the total emissions reduction efforts needed this decade to move the world onto a pathway to net zero emissions by mid-century.
 
The IEA report also serves as an introduction to the Sønderborg Action Plan, which is a set of strategic principles and policy toolkits designed to help governments rapidly enact EE policies.
 
View a synopsis of this action plan HERE and the full report HERE.