IEA members ‘not on track’ on energy efficiency

Environmental Finance, 22 October 2009 - “More action is needed” by International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries on energy efficiency, according to a new report from the agency.

“IEA member countries are implementing a full range of energy efficiency activities,” the report finds. “However, more action is needed … IEA member countries need to urgently extend their efforts in energy efficiency policy,” especially in transportation.

The IEA notes that 25 energy efficiency policy measures that it has proposed over the last few years would, “if implemented globally without delay”, save the equivalent of 8.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030 – twice the EU's current annual emissions.

However, while the IEA evaluation – which runs to the end of March 2009 – “finds many positive examples of energy efficiency policy implementation”, it concludes that the current suite of policies is inadequate to meet environmental and energy security objectives.

“No IEA member country has ‘fully' or ‘substantially' implemented more than 57% of the relevant IEA recommendations,” it says, “and two countries [Spain and Poland] report less than 10% ‘substantial implementation'.” Japan and the UK are the most advanced in terms of policy implementation.

“Another way of looking at this is that even in the countries with the most active energy efficiency policies, around 40% of the potential energy savings from the IEA recommendations, or measures that achieve similar outcomes, remains to be captured.”

The report notes that transport is the mostly poorly performing sector, with just 5% of policies across the 28 IEA countries either fully or substantially implemented.

The utility sector, on the other hand, is substantially implementing 29% of policies, underway with implementation of another 32%, and planning to implement the remaining 39%. 

The IEA notes that “energy efficiency continues to face pervasive barriers”, including lack of access to capital for energy efficiency investments, insufficient information and externality costs that are not reflected in energy prices.

Political commitment “may also have been challenged by the current economic crisis”, it adds.

However, it argues that governments should bear in mind that “the benefits of implementing energy efficiency extend beyond energy security and climate change mitigation … including job creation and health improvements.”

The IEA will be discussing energy efficiency at Environmental Finance Publication's Financing Energy Efficiency conference, in London on 1 December.

Author Environmental Finance Publication Date 22 Oct 2009 Document Type News articles Issue/Topic Energy & Climate Energy Efficiency in Buildings Source Environmental Finance Include In RSS Business & Sustainable Development News Energy & Climate News