New Report Launched at COP16 Aims
to Cut Expected US$ 26 Trillion Energy Costs by 2030
Dec 14, 2010 - WorldofRenewables.com
A new World Economic Forum report developed
in partnership with Accenture was presented today
at the Green Solutions Event at COP16 in Cancun.
The Energy Efficiency: Accelerating the Agenda
report emphasizes the urgent need for energy
efficiency
to be at the forefront of the global agenda.
Energy demand is expected to increase by 40% by
2050. The estimated capital required to meet projected
energy demand through to 2030 amount in cumulative
terms to US$ 26 trillion. Of all the energy options,
energy efficiency is able to provide the largest
capacity for cutbacks in energy demand in the medium
term. This potential can be measured in energy savings,
cost savings and reduction in emissions. Research
has identified that of the carbon abatement required,
57% could be achieved through implementation of energy
efficiency measures by 2030.
Despite commitments to energy efficiency made to
date, there is a substantial gap between policy and
implementation, challenging the concept of energy
efficiency as “low hanging fruit”. The
Energy Efficiency: Accelerating the Agenda report
sought the expertise from over 20 stakeholders across
the public and private sectors to create a pulse
check on where energy efficiency stands today and
address solutions to bridge the gap. The report reveals
reasons behind this gap range from market to institutional
failures, which need to be overcome if energy efficiency
is to be used to effectively meet rising energy demand,
support economic development and meet the critical
challenges of climate change, energy security and
economic competitiveness.
“Tapping into the largely unrealized potential
of energy efficiency will be critical for us to meet
growing energy demand of the 21st century without
leading to water, food or social crises,” said
Pawel Konzal, Head of the Oil & Gas Industry,
World Economic Forum.
Energy Efficiency: Accelerating the Agenda focuses
much more on the roles that the varying stakeholder
groups can play rather than on identifying industry-specific
recommendations in an effort to provide cross-sector
market clarity and identify market accountability.
The report looks at three stakeholder groups – policy-makers,
international and non-governmental organizations,
and the private sector – and identifies key
challenges that must be overcome to accelerate energy
efficiency implementation:
• Access to capital: Aggregating energy efficiency
projects in a bankable way is not easy, so it is
difficult to access capital
• Regulation: Lack of the right regulatory
structures means there is less incentive for investment
in energy efficiency
• Reporting: Measuring and reporting on energy
efficiency is not uniform or well understood, leading
to higher perceived risk and confusion
• Skills and capacity: Lack of skills and
supply chains to enable implementation of measures
means
there are insufficient energy efficiency investment
opportunities
• Standards: There are no international standards
for globally traded products reducing the market
size and incentive for improvement
“Energy efficiency remains a big prize, but
it cannot be delivered by one set of stakeholders,” said
Mark Spelman, Accenture’s Global Head of Strategy. “To
create a step change and capture the potential of
energy efficiency, we must ensure a more systematic
and rigorous dialogue between the public and private
sectors. The private sector can do more for its part
by beginning to forge more innovative global alliances.
New business models combined with new financing mechanisms
to support global scale-up will demonstrate the positive
business case for energy efficiency.”
The report’s output formed an integral part
of private sessions co-hosted by the World Economic
Forum and the Mexican Government at Green Solutions
alongside the COP16 negotiations in Cancun, with
the ultimate objective to inspire concrete action
across stakeholder groups throughout 2011.
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