Technological advancements in the field of energy efficiency have accelerated this year, with global primary energy intensity on course to improve by 1.8% this year, the International Energy Agency reported today.
Last year, global primary energy intensity only declined by 1%, the IEA said, with this year’s acceleration attributable in part to better efficiency gains in some major economies such as China and India.
“The acceleration in global progress on energy efficiency that we’re seeing in 2025 is encouraging, including positive signs in some major emerging economies. But our analysis shows that governments need to work even harder to ensure efficiency’s full range of benefits are enjoyed by as many people as possible,” IEA’s chief, Fatih Birol, said.
Even with the accelerated rate of improvements in energy efficiency this year, however, actual gains fall well short of the 4% target set at the COP38 two years ago, the IEA noted. The target is for 2030.
Energy efficiency has been emphasized by proponents of the energy transition as an important part of efforts to reduce the consumption of crude oil, but it has been largely overlooked in favor of power generation from wind and solar, to replace hydrocarbon-sourced baseload generation.
Just last month, the International Renewable Energy Agency warned in a report that the world was moving too slowly on renewable energy and efficiency to meet its near-term climate goals. It highlighted the unsatisfactory 1% rate of improvement in global energy efficiency gains for last year and warned that, despite record wind and solar deployment in 2024, current trajectories fall far short of what is needed to meet the COP28-mandated UAE Consensus targets.
While global renewable capacity additions hit 582 GW in 2024, the UAE Consensus goal of 11.2 TW of renewable capacity by 2030 now implies that annual additions must reach 1,122 GW per year from 2025 onward, which would be a sustained growth rate of 16.6% annually.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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