11 July 2017: The International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) has released a report, titled ‘Energy Efficiency Networks: Towards good practices and guidelines for effective policies to stimulate energy efficiency,’ which provides a practical toolkit for policy makers to develop policy and regulatory frameworks that support Energy Efficiency Networks (EENs).
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy efficiency will need to contribute about 50% in energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reductions for the world to be on track for the 2°C trajectory set out in the Paris Agreement. The IPEEC report comes within the framework of this goal, along with Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) and the G20 Energy Efficiency Leading Programme.
The IEA also reported that industry is one of the largest users of energy, accounting for almost 40% of global total energy demand. The IPEEC therefore notes that measures that increase energy efficiency have a high potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if they are shared across industry sectors. According to the IPEEC, EENs are network platforms that bring together companies from a region, sector, supply chain or corporate group to exchange experiences and develop joint measures to improve energy efficiency. While EENs are voluntary, they can be effectively incentivized by government interventions.
The IPEEC report notes that the potential of Energy Efficiency Networks remains largely untapped and encourages governments to use the toolkit and case studies as guiding reference to develop policies and regulations that facilitate their creation.
The IPEEC report includes good practices for the initiation of EENs, the acquisition of participating companies, financial incentives and training tools for capacity development. It summarizes the work of a year-long project on EENs conducted by IPEEC and supported by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) that included a workshop with industry partners.
The project also produced an interim report on EENs that summarizes experiences and case studies from G7 countries and Sweden and Norway. In its conclusions, the final report notes that the potential of EENs remains largely untapped. It encourages governments to use the toolkit and case studies as guiding reference to develop policies and regulations that facilitate their creation to realize the untapped energy efficiency potential in the industrial sector. [IPEEC Press Release] [Energy Efficiency Networks: Towards Good Practices and Guidelines for Effective Policies to Stimulate Energy Efficiency] [IPEEC Press Release: EEN Workshop October 2016] [Interim Report: Energy Efficiency Networks – An Effective Policy to Stimulate Energy Efficiency]