17 January 2012: The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has published its Industrial Development Report, titled “Industrial energy efficiency for sustainable wealth creation: capturing environmental, economic and social dividends.” The report concludes that improving industrial energy efficiency is key to sustainable industrial development, especially in developing countries.

The report, which was launched on 17 January 2012 at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, focuses on industrial energy efficiency challenges in developing countries. It is backed by a set of statistics on Manufacturing Value Added (MVA), manufacturing export trends, and other key indicators. It also presents UNIDO’s Competitive Industrial Performance Index.

The report: examines long-term trends in industrial energy intensity and related technological and structural change; analyzes the environmental, economic and social benefits of industrial energy efficiency; and identifies obstacles to its promotion and uptake and ways to overcome these obstacles.

The report states that industrial development must become sustainable, underlining that innovative national and global solutions are vital to ensure that industrial development is in line with environmental, economic and social needs. It states that this “green industry” approach can provide the blueprint for sustained industrial development and that industrial energy efficiency is a key foundation for greener industry worldwide. Highlighting that investing in industrial energy efficiency in both developed and developing countries is profitable and that there is a wide range of profitable opportunities in improving energy efficiency, it concludes that the reason for the current lack of adequate investments is that countries face numerous barriers to investment, stemming from market and behavioural failures. It underlines that public policy interventions will be needed to overcome these barriers.

Presenting the report, UNIDO Director-General Kandeh K. Yumkella said it is UNIDO’s main contribution to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Highlighting the importance of the issues in the report, he said, “A world that has just reached a population of seven billion must take into account industrial energy efficiency if it wants to address such challenges as green growth, employment generation, security, climate change, food production and poverty reduction. Industrial energy efficiency is essential for strengthening economies, protecting ecosystems and achieving social benefits.” [Publication: Industrial Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Wealth Creation: Capturing Environmental, Economic and Social Dividends] [UNIDO News Release]