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Designing Energy Efficiency Policies to Enhance Affordability
Examples from G7 countries Energy affordability has emerged as a critical concern in the context of rising global energy prices and growing inequality in energy access. Lower-income households spend a significantly higher share of their income on energy than wealthier households, leaving them exposed to price shocks and especially vulnerable when energy prices increase. Energy efficiency can play a key role in delivering lower energy bills, reducing emissions, and enhancing resilience. However, ensuring that all households benefit requires targeted, inclusive policy design.This issue was a central focus of an IEA workshop held in January 2025 with G7 country…
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Advancing Methane Emissions Reductions by National Oil Companies
National oil companies (NOCs) are responsible for around half of all global oil and gas production today and their actions strongly influence methane abatement prospects. More than 30 NOCs have joined the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC) and are engaging in initiatives to tackle methane emissions and flaring. There is a major opportunity for NOCs looking to implement best practices in methane management to learn from the experience of peers in order to deploy strategies that are adapted and tailored to their circumstances. Best practices include adopting measures to limit flaring and venting, implementing leak detection and repair programmes…
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Energy savings
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores energy savings. Why is energy efficiency important for energy savings? Energy efficiency measures reduce the amount of energy required to fuel and grow our economies. In economies where energy demand is set to grow significantly, efficiency also helps improve people’s lives by increasing access to additional energy services. Key facts In the last two decades, efficiency measures have generated over 27 EJ of energy savings in IEA countries alone, equivalent to 20% of total energy demand.The industry (including manufacturing) and services (including commercial buildings) sectors…
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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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Policy Toolbox for Industrial Decarbonisation
The Policy Toolbox for Industrial Decarbonisation is a repository of policy instruments available to assist governments as they design, develop and implement their strategies for industrial decarbonisation. This work, undertaken as part of the Climate Club's Work Programme, builds on the policy toolbox outlined in IEA’s 2022 Achieving Net Zero Heavy Industry Sectors in G7 Members report, with the addition of further details on the instruments and considerations for implementation.A robust industrial decarbonisation policy strategy is likely to include multiple different instruments, as governments choose the instruments that are most suited to their individual circumstances and objectives…
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The Value of Demand Flexibility
Benefits beyond balancing This policy brief, developed under the International Energy Agency’s Digital Demand-Driven Electricity Networks (3DEN) Initiative, examines the value of demand flexibility as a core component of modern electricity systems, with a strong emphasis on its role in improving energy efficiency. As electricity demand grows and power systems become more electrified, decentralised and renewable-rich, managing when and how electricity is used is increasingly as important as expanding supply.The brief sets out a clear framework for understanding demand flexibility and highlights its contribution to an efficiency-first approach to power system planning and operation. By…
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Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency
As energy efficiency continues to gain attention as a key resource for economic and social development across all economies, understanding its real value is increasingly important. The multiple benefits approach seeks to expand the perspective of energy efficiency beyond the traditional measure of energy savings by identifying and measuring its impacts in full bloom.
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Prospects for Natural Gas Certification
This report offers an overview of the role of certification in natural gas supply chains, provides a broad mapping of existing initiatives, highlights selected regulatory and market developments, identifies areas where improvements may be needed, and presents recommendations to support the development of credible certification frameworks.Certified natural gas refers to gas whose environmental and social attributes – such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions performance, water use, local community impacts and worker safety – have been independently verified against defined criteria or benchmarks. In 2024, around 7.5% of global natural gas production was certified, with volumes primarily originating from North America…
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Southeast Asia Indicators Handbook for Just and Inclusive Transitions
Energy demand in Southeast Asia is growing, driven by rapidly growing population and economies, industrialisation and urbanisation. Many countries in the region have set out their own national decarbonisation targets and clean energy transitions commitments.Clean energy transitions in the region present unique opportunities to deliver broad socio-economic benefits, beyond emissions reductions, such as the creation of new decent jobs, economic diversification, reduced energy poverty and improved air quality. Tracking these benefits can help ensure that all parts of society benefit from these changes.In 2024, G20 leaders endorsed ten voluntary G20 Principles for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions…
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Emission reductions
Multiple benefits of Energy Efficiency 2025 Energy efficiency provides multiple benefits. This page explores emission reductions. Why is energy efficiency important for emission reductions? Energy efficiency can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants and make the energy system more sustainable. Key facts Since 2010, efficiency measures avoided energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions equivalent to nearly 20% of the global total in 2023. This is more than the entire energy-related emissions of India and the European Union combined. Accelerating efficiency improvements could deliver a third of all energy-related CO₂ emission reductions between now and 2030 in…
