International. Governments must take stronger policy action to reverse the worrying slowdown in global energy efficiency improvements, according to a public survey by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The survey was conducted to inform the first meeting of the Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, which was held the previous week.
Launched in July, the 23-member Global Commission is led by Irish Prime Minister's Honorary President Leo Varadkar and comprised of national leaders, current and former ministers, business executives and international experts. It is tasked with producing recommendations by next summer to accelerate global progress in energy efficiency, which declined last year to its slowest rate since the beginning of this decade.
During their first meeting in Paris, the commission's members examined the key factors that determine success in designing and implementing efficiency policies, as well as in garnering political and popular support for policies. The meeting laid the groundwork for developing the commission's recommendations.
The IEA is providing analytical support for the work of the commission. As part of this, it conducted a global public survey on energy efficiency to which nearly 800 people from around 80 countries responded. The survey includes questions about the objective of efficiency policies, key opportunities and areas of focus for the commission.
In response to a question about why the significant potential to improve energy efficiency is not being harnessed, the most popular answer was that governments do not put efficiency high enough on their agendas. Only 3% of respondents pointed to the lack of available technologies as a factor.
According to the majority of respondents, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the most compelling reason to seek higher levels of efficiency. Many of them identified that the building sector has the greatest potential for immediate efficiency gains. More than 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that efficiency progress is not possible without firm targets supported by clear strategies and policies.
When asked what issues the Global Commission should prioritize, the two main responses from respondents were to identify ways to raise the profile of energy efficiency to place it higher on government agendas and to determine key success factors in policy design and implementation. Those themes reflect the broader expectations of the energy efficiency community that the Global Commission will show how to generate more support for energy efficiency among decision makers and point out the best ways to design and implement efficiency policies to effectively mobilize finance and investment.
The views gathered by the public survey provide important information for commission members as they begin their discussions and develop detailed policy recommendations.
