15 May 2012
ECLAC Workshop Discusses Common Energy Efficiency Indicators for MERCOSUR and Associate Countries
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This workshop is part of an effort of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to assist Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in developing a common set of indicators to guide energy efficiency policy, using lessons learned and best practice from Europe.

4 May 2012: A technical workshop held under UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) auspices has discussed the development of a joint set of indicators to guide energy efficiency policy making in Latin America.

The workshop considered policy making and implementation for the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) member countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and MERCOSUR associate members Bolivia and Chile, using lessons learned and best practice from Europe. The three-day workshop, convened at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, from 2-4 May 2012, is part of the two-year “Energy Efficiency Indicator Base” (known by its Spanish acronym BIEE) project for the six countries, sponsored by the German Cooperation Agency (GIZ) with technical assistance from ECLAC’s Division of Natural Resources and Infrastructure and France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

The goals of the BIEE project are to develop a set of common and comparable data that will guide governments in formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating national energy efficiency policies, while strengthening local capacities in collecting, analyzing and using such data in policy formation and implementation. The workshop discussed questions of use and access to information, collection techniques (such as industry and household surveys), estimation methods and proposed indicators. Each country presented on the types of information they already used and had available, the challenges and factors to take into account for their markets, information gaps, evaluation needs and priority sectors identified, and their national experience to date with building and using indicators.

As with the inaugural workshop held in September 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Santiago workshop was co-organized by the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) and attended by technical representatives from the ministries and secretariats of energy of the six countries, as well as specialists from ECLAC and ADEME. [ECLAC Release (Spanish)]