Energy efficiency at its highest level remains insufficient in the face of climate challenges

The subject of "efficiency" is so important but also so underestimated that the Agency, an offshoot of the OECD, is bringing together 700 decision-makers in Versailles this week, including CEOs and more than 30 ministers, from China, the EU or Indonesia, to give it a boost.

Renovation of buildings, public transport, infrastructure for electric vehicles... These investments should reach 624 billion dollars this year, according to the report. This is 20% more compared to 2021.

Efficiency in the use of energy (less energy consumed for the same service rendered) came back to the fore last year with soaring prices for gas, oil and electricity , further accentuated by the war in Ukraine.

For example, it represents a quarter of the measures of the US administration's Inflation Reduction Act. Japan's Green Transformation Plan focuses on efficiency in buildings, REPowerEU has raised EU targets, India has passed an "energy conservation" project, Chile an efficiency law. ..

On the equipment side, sales of heat pumps grew in 2022 by 10% worldwide (+40% in Europe), electric vehicles represented 14% of the total sold (18% expected in 2023) and energy management technologies of the house develop, but less markedly.

The standards are also progressing, in place in more than 100 countries, identified the IEA, which cites South Africa where the new lamps will have to be equipped with LEDs.

As a result, overall energy efficiency increased by 2,2% last year, four times the rate of the previous two years.

"Ten years to act"

And yet, all this is not enough.

"A strong momentum is pushing energy efficiency, and for a year and the global energy crisis, measures have been taken in countries representing more than 70% of global energy consumption", underlines the director of the IEA, Fatih Birol.

But "now we must move up a gear, and double progress by the end of the decade," he warns.

Doubling this progress and therefore raising it to 4% per year would reduce global energy demand and the sector's CO2030 emissions by a third by 2, in line with the scenario of carbon neutrality by 2050. intended to protect the world from the worst effects of global warming.

For this, investments will have to triple, to more than 1.800 billion dollars annually by 2030.

However, "when we talk about clean energy, States still often think of renewables, solar, hydrogen... It's important, but we should also think more about how we use energy", underlines Brian Motherway, Efficiency Manager at the AIE.

Hence this 8th annual conference of the IEA on efficiency, with increased attendance this year.

In particular, the Agency has concocted a "toolbox" for leaders, with examples of effective measures and "sectoral packages" (cooking, heating, air conditioning, financing, etc.).

"A decade to act", such is also the title of the briefing for ministers, which insists on the need to act now to avoid developing unnecessary new energy infrastructures.

This progress would also be synonymous with societal benefits, particularly in developing countries, argues the IEA, as more efficient energy is likely to benefit a greater number of users.

Some 625 million people in the world today remain without access to electricity, according to a report published Tuesday by the IEA, the UN and the World Bank. And an estimated 2,3 billion humans remain dependent for cooking on harmful fuels.