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Commentary
25 Mar 2026
Businesses see competitive value of energy efficiency, but smaller firms struggle to access solutions
CEOs value energy efficiency, but SMEs struggle to benefit Energy efficiency is a strategic asset for industrial competitiveness. For companies facing tight margins, volatile energy prices and intensifying global competition, reducing energy waste is not only a cost-saving measure, but also a way to protect productivity, manage risk and strengthen their position in global markets. Yet not all firms have the same capacity to quickly improve their energy efficiency.New analysis of the 2025 IEA Industrial Competitiveness Survey – which covered 1 000 companies across 14 countries – shows that business leaders view energy efficiency as closely linked to their competitive performance…
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Fuel report
May 2026
Financing the Modernisation of Power Systems Beyond Coal Executive summary
The role of coal in power systems is evolving This report assesses the potential applications, limitations and relevance of transition credits in Southeast Asia. Coal is the largest source of power generation worldwide and the largest source of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. All Southeast Asian countries with coal in their power generation mix have adopted commitments to reduce coal-fired generation or emissions targets that imply a significant decline in coal consumption in the coming decades. To meet these targets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has long emphasised that a range of strategies can be deployed to reduce coal…
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Policy report
Oct 2025
Financing Electricity Access in Africa Beyond new connections
Providing an affordable, equitable and quality service Affordability constraints can prevent households from gaining access to electricity or from taking advantage of electricity services once a connection is made. An estimated 220 million people in sub-Saharan Africa (around 40% of those without access) would find the basic bundle unaffordable, rising to 400 million for the essential bundle (65% of those without access). Filling this affordability gap would cost an additional USD 2-10 billion per year, via supply-side subsidies to reduce developer costs, demand-side subsidies to reduce consumer costs, or reductions in financing costs.The cost of capital for electricity access projects…
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Topic
Net Zero Emissions
An increasing number of countries have been making pledges to reduce their emissions to net zero in the coming decades. To inform these efforts, the IEA released a first-of-its-kind Net Zero Roadmap in 2021, outlining what would be required within the energy sector to achieve this goal at the global level by mid-century. An update to the Roadmap, which has served as an essential benchmark for policy makers, industry, the financial sector and civil society, was published in 2023.The Roadmap is based on the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) Scenario, which portrays a pathway for the…
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Country
China
China’s growing energy needs are increasingly met by renewables, natural gas and electricity. The scale of China’s future electricity demand and the challenge of decarbonising the power supply help explain why global investment in electricity overtook that of oil and gas for the first time in 2016, and why electricity security is moving firmly up the policy agenda. That said, cost reductions for renewables are not sufficient on their own to secure efficient decarbonisation or reliable supply.
Between 2019 and 2024, China will account for 40% of global renewable capacity expansion, driven by improved system integration, lower curtailment…- Overview
- Energy mix
- Emissions
- Electricity
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+ 5 pages
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Country report
Dec 2025
Sustainable Transport for Georgia: A Roadmap Transport in Georgia: Taking stock
Status and key developments Transportation is a key contributor to Georgia’s economic growth. Economic activity associated with transport and warehousing in the country has grown rapidly, outpacing gross domestic product (GDP). Between 2010 and 2022, transport’s contribution to GDP nearly tripled, increasing from 1.4 billion GEL (520 million USD) to 4.1 billion GEL (1.52 billion USD). In 2023, transport and storage combined contributed 6.5% to Georgia’s GDP.Transport and storage employed around 8% of Georgia’s workforce in 2023. Cargo movements spurred by Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine pushed up…
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Contributor
Jad Mouawad
Former Head of the Communication and Digital Office. Jad Mouawad (@jadmouawad) was appointed as head of the IEA’s Communication and Digital Office in September 2019. He oversees the IEA’s public and media relations, digital and social media strategy, publications, product strategy and sales, and is responsible for the IEA’s digitalization initiative. He joined the IEA in 2016, as head of the news, information and multimedia unit. A reporter for nearly two decades, he previously worked for The New York Times where he covered the global energy industry, airlines and transportation.