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Gaining an Edge
The Role of Energy Efficiency in Enhancing Competitiveness Energy efficiency delivers more than energy savings and emission reductions – it can also improve the competitiveness of countries and firms. From increased profitability to job creation, energy efficiency helps firms compete amid high costs, growing demand, and rising trade pressures. In today’s global context, energy efficiency is not only a matter of energy policy, but also of economic policy.The report analyses historical progress in industrial energy efficiency and its role in enhancing industrial competitiveness. It includes comparisons of firm-level energy efficiency, identifying performance gaps and opportunities for further improvement. Drawing…
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Jobs
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores jobs. Why is energy efficiency important for jobs? Investment in energy efficiency creates jobs in a wide range of occupations and geographic locations. Key facts Around 10 million people work in energy efficiency-related jobs globally, representing nearly 15% of all energy-related jobs. Studies indicate that energy efficiency creates between 4 and 22 jobs per USD 1 million invested, depending on economic structure and energy efficiency measure. By lowering energy spending, energy efficiency also helps foster business growth and competitiveness. Energy efficiency offers a wide array of job opportunities…
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Competitiveness
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores competitiveness. Why is energy efficiency important for competitiveness? Increasing energy efficiency can improve competitiveness at both the firm level – by reducing costs, improving operations and increasing product value – and at the country level, by reducing the amount of energy required to produce economic output. Key facts Today the world’s industries produce nearly 20% more value added with a given amount of energy, compared with two decades ago. In the industrial sector, energy management can lead to more than 10% in annual energy cost savings within…
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Scaling Up Transition Finance
Scaling Up
Transition
Finance Actions by emissions-intensive sectors, companies and countries are crucial to placing the world on a sustainable pathway. Yet investments that could deliver meaningful reductions in their environmental footprint often do not receive sufficient financial support. Currently, finance is drawn heavily to certain “green” assets and activities. While vital, these investments alone cannot deliver all the changes needed to cut global emissions, especially in areas where clean technologies are not yet commercially available or cost-competitive. This is where transition finance comes in: it can help emissions-intensive countries, companies and sectors shift over time towards…
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What Next for the Global Car Industry
An Energy Technology Perspectives Special Report The global car industry has operated under relatively stable conditions for decades. The world’s largest car manufacturers are based in the European Union, Korea, Japan and the United States, and – more recently – in China, and the car industry is a major contributor to the economy in these countries. The strength of many of these car makers is built on decades at the forefront of technological innovation around the internal combustion engine (ICE), as well as highly integrated and optimised supply chains that allow for vehicles and their components to be produced at low…
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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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Global Energy and Climate Model
Scenario analysis of future energy trends Global Energy and Climate Model Over the past four years, the IEA has worked to develop a new integrated modelling framework: the IEA’s Global Energy and Climate (GEC) Model. This model is now the principal tool used to generate detailed sector-by-sector and region-by-region long-term scenarios across IEA's publications, including the World Energy Outlook series and Energy Technology Perspectives series.In 2021, the IEA adopted for the first time a new hybrid modelling approach relying on the strengths of both models. The integrated framework of the IEA’s Global…
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Economic growth
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores economic growth. Why is energy efficiency important for economic growth? Energy efficiency allows countries to generate more economic activity using the same amount of energy. It is also linked to increased labour productivity and other economic benefits. Key facts Compared with 2000, today’s global economy produces 36% more GDP per unit of energy. Energy efficiency progress over the last 20 years means that close to an extra USD 50 trillion can today be produced using the same amount of energy. This energy efficiency bonus is equivalent to…
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Sustainable Transport Policy for Armenia: A Roadmap
As a part of the EU4Energy Programme, the Armenia Energy Policy Roadmap on Sustainable Transport presents a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for transforming the country’s mobility system into a sustainable and efficient transport system. The strategy seeks to deliver significant reductions in CO₂ emissions while strengthening regional connectivity, fostering economic development, and enhancing energy security. While Armenia has made notable progress in rolling out electric vehicles and electrifying its rail network, it still struggles with a high dependence on imported fossil fuels, a lack of data transparency and weak co-ordination among government agencies. This roadmap is structured to…
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World Energy Outlook 2025
The IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook (WEO) is the most authoritative source of global energy analysis and projections. Updated annually to reflect the latest energy data, technology and market trends, and government policies, it explores a range of possible energy futures and their implications for energy security, access and emissions. The WEO covers the whole energy system, using a scenario-based approach to highlight the central choices, consequences and contingencies that lie ahead. It includes exploratory scenarios that flow from different assumptions about existing policies, as well as normative pathways that achieve energy and emissions goals in full. The multi…
