The International Energy Agency (IEA) has launched the “Energy Efficiency Hub” on Dec. 1 in Paris. The platform is for governments to collaborate and deliver the social, economic and environmental benefits of the efficient use of energy.
The initial 16 members of the Hub are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Hub’s Steering Committee Chairman will be Ulrich Benterbusch, the Deputy Director General of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said, “Being based at the IEA will enable the Hub to cooperate effectively with IEA experts and the other key initiatives and activities we host, including the Clean Energy Ministerial.”
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The Hub will make possible the government-to-government exchanges on efficiency policy, regulation and implementation. The focus will be on the real-world challenges that the member nations face. Benterbusch noted that each member has made significant accomplishments in relation to energy efficiency. The members, which together account for over 60% of the CO2 emissions and energy use, are aware of the importance of working together towards achieving energy efficiency.
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IEA Head of Energy Efficiency Brian Motherway said, “Governments need to work much harder if they are to deliver the full potential of energy efficiency and get their energy systems onto a pathway towards net zero. The Hub is an important instrument for countries to learn from each other and work together to strengthen their efficiency policies.”
Birol added that energy efficiency is the “first fuel” as it is important to address climate change, make energy supplies more secure and save costs. At the launch event, digitalisation, efficient equipment and appliance deployment, best energy efficiency technologies, and energy management best practices were defined as the areas of collaboration.
The Hub was launched after the release of IEA’s Energy Efficiency 2021 report, which stated that energy efficiency improvements had picked up and were returning to their pre-pandemic pace but are still not enough to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
