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Energy Efficiency in China’s Buildings Sector
Policy opportunities Over the past two decades, China has made significant strides in energy efficiency, with strong reductions in primary energy intensity across the economy and increased energy services. Much of China’s improvement has come from energy efficiency upgrades in industry and overall economic structural shifts. The buildings sector accounts for approximately 20% of its total final energy consumption and its intensity has decreased at a slower rate. There remains significant potential to unlock further energy savings through technical and policy initiatives in buildings.This report outlines opportunities for actions, targets and timelines that could improve energy efficiency in…
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China’s Official Energy Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies
Evolving institutions, instruments and implications for clean energy transitions Global energy investment exceeded USD 3.3 trillion in 2025, but capital flows remain uneven. Emerging market and developing economies (EMDE) outside China attracted just 27% of total energy investment and 18% of clean energy spending, despite accounting for nearly two-thirds of the global population and the bulk of future demand. Addressing this imbalance requires mobilising more capital from diverse sources into EMDE energy systems.China continues to play a central role in global energy investment flows because of its large domestic investments and its large external capital spending on energy. Since…
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Unlocking Ukraine’s Hydrogen Opportunity: A Roadmap
Ukraine’s energy sector has been severely affected by the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion. The power sector went from having a large capacity surplus before the war to a power deficit in 2024 due to Russia’s attacks. This has focused attention on energy security and restoring the reliability of supply. Hydrogen demand from conventional applications in refining and ammonia has also plunged, falling 80%, with most of these assets in southern Ukraine, where the frontline and occupied areas are located. Overall economic damage from the war has been extensive, with reconstruction costs previously estimated by the World…
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Energy System Resilience
Lessons learned from Ukraine Ensuring energy security encompasses both long-term and short-term dimensions. The long-term dimension involves securing sufficient infrastructure investment and diverse supply sources. The short-term dimension – resilience – focuses on systems’ ability to cope with events exceeding standard planning conditions. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has worked to protect its energy sector and to increase its ability to withstand and rapidly recover from Russia’s attacks on its energy infrastructure. The report explores the lessons that Ukraine has been learning as it works to bolster system resilience and identifies measures that…
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Policy options to accelerate distributed solar PV in Ukraine
Accelerating distributed solar PV and battery energy storage deployment will support Ukraine in establishing energy security.In the year following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, available dispatchable power generation capacity halved from roughly 38 GW to 19 GW. After severe attacks in spring 2024, capacity declined further, down to 12 GW. Towards the end of 2024 Ukraine was able to restore 3 GW and has worked to restore and add additional capacity throughout 2025, despite ongoing attacks.Distributed solar PV has played a key role, providing cost effective and rapid increases in electricity generation capacity, contributing…
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Ukraine’s Energy Security
A pre-winter assessment As Ukraine enters its fourth winter of war, ensuring that residents retain reliable access to heat and power is of the utmost importance. While Ukraine made strong strides in rebuilding and strengthening the resilience of its energy system this past spring and summer, the situation remains fragile, and the risk of huge disruptions and widespread destabilisation remains – particularly as Russia expands the scope and sophistication of its attacks.This analysis builds on the IEA’s September 2024 report, Ukraine’s Energy Security and the Coming Winter. It provides an update on the latest developments through October…
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Integrating Distributed Energy Resources in China
Lessons from international experience Like no other country in the world, the People’s Republic of China (hereafter, “China”) is witnessing rapid growth in distributed energy resources (DERs), including rooftop solar photovoltaics, battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) chargers. As China advances towards its carbon peaking and neutrality goals, these resources offer a unique opportunity to support a more flexible, efficient and resilient power system, provided their integration is well-managed.This report analyses recent trends in DER deployment across China and highlights the emerging challenges their growth poses for power system planning and operation, calling for renewed attention to…
