The UNEP DTU Partnership has just launched a report entitled “The Multiple Benefits of Measures to Improve Energy Efficiency”.
The report combines energy modelling with a survey of 25 national programmes, to provide an overview of the various benefits associated with improvements in energy efficiency. It is the first study providing comparable country- and sector-specific forecasts of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and macro-economic variables for most G20 countries.
The report puts forward three main conclusions:
- The efficiency with which energy is transformed, distributed and used is likely to improve, even in the absence of targeted policies to promote energy efficiency. However, introducing such targeted policies could unlock much larger energy savings and associated benefits across economic, social and environmental agendas.
- Monitoring the nature and extent of the benefits associated with energy efficiency programmes spurs the development of new programmes and helps improve their design. At present, most benefits, even the most politically-appealing ones, such as employment creation, are often not quantified.
- Energy efficiency programme design should place additional emphasis on targeted information provision and capacity-building activities, as they are essential for overcoming barriers to energy efficiency. Such activities are often not prioritised and as a result lack the sufficient human and financial resources, which are indispensable to ensure that the programmes deliver their full potential.
The report is based on four technical reports, all available from UNEP DTU Partnership. Non-technical summaries of these reports are also available.
