International. Appropriate efficiency policies could, on their own, enable a reduction in emissions needed by 40% to achieve their climate targets. And all this, without the need for new technologies. This is clear from the Energy Efficiency 2018 report of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
For the International Agency, while the demand for energy increases, energy efficiency policies have been lowered in recent years, and they regret that in the last 24 months fewer new rules and policies have been introduced.
For the Agency, this weakening of efficiency progress is worrying at a time when global energy demand is growing. The report asks what would happen if all the opportunities for energy efficiency were seized. All the opportunities identified by the IEA are cost-effective and use technologies already available today.
The report also shows that increasing efficiency would reduce energy bills for consumers by more than $500 billion a year, as well as energy imports and pollution in cities, which, the IEA recalls, is a key problem for many countries.
The report sets out a vision for 2040 with 60% more construction space and 20% more people, and twice as much global GDP, while using slightly more energy than at present and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 12%. But this vision, the Agency warns, requires immediate progress in political action.
Energy Efficiency 2018 outlines a global strategy focused on the role of governments, i.e. what they can do to achieve economic, social and environmental benefits from greater energy efficiency. And the answer is clear: improve the efficiency of buildings and industry, although the Agency also highlights the importance of areas such as aviation and maritime transport.
