Improving Energy Efficiency
Reducing the amount of energy the world wastes is the first and best step toward fighting global warming. The International Energy Agency estimates that almost one-half of the necessary climate mitigation will need to come from improved energy efficiency. Eliminating energy waste also provides financial resources to sustainably grow strong economies around the world.
What’s more, energy efficiency’s benefits are universal – equally important in countries large and small. Reaching international agreement to unlock the energy efficiency opportunity is a strong down payment on further emissions reductions.
THE GLOBAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY ACCELERATOR PLATFORM
Sustainable Energy for All , the initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and co-led by World Bank President Jim Kim, has a goal for 2030 of doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency globally. This goal was earlier articulated in the report of an expert panel organized by the UN Foundation in 2007, “Realizing the Potential of Energy Efficiency.”
Toward that end, the UN Foundation supported the launch of a Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform at the UN Climate Summit in September 2014. The Platform’s objective is to promote a major scaling up of energy efficiency activities and investments throughout the world through technical assistance, support and collaboration. It offers the private sector a way, along with public sector institutions, including the United Nations, the World Bank, regional development banks, and leading civil society organizations, to partner with state and local governments.
The Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform will seek and help implement commitments to concrete action by national and sub-national leaders, focusing particularly on city- and state-level projects, developing policy and investment roadmaps and mobilizing technical and financial support through a global network of experts, institutions, and businesses. The Platform includes a number of sector-specific accelerators in collaboration with the private sector, from which cities, regions and countries can choose for direct engagement. These include: buildings, lighting, appliances, district energy, transport, and industry.