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Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit Buildings
Introduction Buildings account for about 30% of final energy consumption globally and more than half of electricity consumption. Doubling the global annual energy intensity improvement by 2030 would require buildings to become more efficient rapidly. An integrated policy approach combining regulation, information and incentives is the most effective way to achieve this goal. Regulatory standards such as building energy codes are among the most effective policies to not only boost energy performance and reduce emissions, but also to improve occupants' health, comfort and productivity – while enhancing climate resilience and mitigating energy price fluctuations. Buildings built after a code is introduced can…
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Stepping Up the Value Chain in Africa Executive summary
Africa is endowed with vast energy resources – fossil fuels, but also solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal – and yet energy supply remains limited: Around 600 million people on the continent lack reliable access to electricity. This energy gap constrains economic growth and industrial potential, particularly in rural areas where agriculture remains the dominant sector in the economy. As African economies grow and urbanise, the demand for energy-intensive industries and infrastructure is rising. Strategic investments in sustainable industrialisation can create a virtuous cycle that expands energy access and drives productivity, which in turn can attract more investment.Market opportunities already exist. Globally…
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Renewables 2021 Renewable heat
Recent trends Global progress on conversion to renewable heat has been limited Heat is the world’s largest energy end use, accounting for almost half of global final energy consumption in 2021, significantly more than electricity (20%) and transport (30%). Industrial processes are responsible for 51% of the energy consumed for heat, while another 46% is consumed in buildings for space and water heating, and, to a lesser extent, cooking. The remainder is used in agriculture, primarily for greenhouse heating. Global heat demand declined by 2% in 2020, primarily due to the curtailment of economic activity as a result of…
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Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit Financing Energy Efficiency
Global energy investment continues to grow despite a challenging geopolitical environment. According to the IEA’s World Energy Investment 2026 report, total spending is expected to reach USD 3.4 trillion in 2026, a 5% increase from 2025. Clean energy investment is projected to remain around USD 2.2 trillion, representing nearly two‑thirds of total energy spending and continuing to outpace fossil fuels. Investment in electricity systems such as grids, storage, and electrification, is increasingly driven by energy security concerns and rising electricity demand. Energy efficiency also remains essential to strengthening system resilience, reducing costs for consumers and businesses, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions…
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Coal 2025 Prices and costs
Prices Coal prices averaging lower in 2025 than in previous years After unprecedented prices in 2021 and 2022 amid the energy crisis, coal prices continued to be higher than the pre-Covid levels throughout 2023 and 2024. Prices for different coal qualities generally move in tandem, as partial substitution is possible. Thermal coal is mainly consumed in power generation and in this section is classified into low-CV (CV below 4 200 kcal/kg), mid-CV (CV between 4 200 kcal/kg and 5 700 kcal/kg) and high-CV (CV above 5 700 kcal/kg) categories. In some cases, direct substitution between grades is feasible, and blending…
- Executive summary
- Demand
- Supply
- Trade
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+ 2 pages
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World Energy Investment 2025 European Union
Energy investment in the European Union has shifted over the past decade to low-emissions generation. Grid investment is key to EU price convergence and market stability In the past decade, the European Union (EU) has increased its commitment to clean energy, with investment reaching almost USD 390 billion in 2025. Investment in low-emissions electricity was driven by the global energy crisis that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, subsequent favourable policy incentives and the declining cost of renewable technologies. In 2024 renewables generated 50% of electricity used in the EU, while fossil fuels accounted…
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Breakthrough Agenda Report 2025 Road transport
State of the transition Emissions Road sector emissions were just over 6 Gt CO₂ in 2024, 8% higher than in 2015. Growth averaged only 0.2% annually from 2019 to 2024, down from 1.7% per year between 2015 and 2019.Over 60% of road emissions are from passenger cars or vans, followed by trucks (about one-third), and buses and 2/3 wheelers just 7%.Since 2015, emissions in emerging economies (excluding China) have risen sharply, at over 18%, compared to 2.5% in the rest of the world. Cost Closing the purchase price gap between electric and conventional…
- Executive summary
- Power
- Hydrogen
- Road transport
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+ 4 pages
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Global Energy and Climate Model Understanding GEC Model scenarios
Overview The IEA’s medium- to long-term outlook publications – including the World Energy Outlook (WEO) and Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) – use a scenario approach relying on the Global Energy and Climate (GEC) Model to examine future energy trends.Each scenario has the same starting point and is based on the latest data for energy supply and demand, markets, technology costs and policies, as well as the same pathways for future population and economic growth.The energy system described and explored in each scenario evolves in a distinctive pathway that delivers energy services with a different mix of technologies and…
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Financing Clean Energy in Africa Clean energy investment landscape: setting the scene
Summary The IEA’s Africa Energy Outlook 2022 laid out a new scenario – the Sustainable Africa Scenario (SAS) – which sees the continent achieve by 2030, in full and on time, all of its energy and climate-related goals, including universal energy access and its NDCs.Realising the SAS requires mobilising over USD 200 billion annually by 2030, but energy investment has been declining in Africa and in 2022 was under USD 90 billion. Clean energy spending was a fraction of this at around USD 25 billion – only 2% of the global total despite the recent rise in global clean energy investment. This is far from what…
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Russia's War on Ukraine
The new energy world The global energy landscape has changed dramatically The energy sector continues to feel the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which in February 2022 sparked the first truly global energy crisis. Two years on, energy prices have pulled back from record highs, but trends vary widely among regions. In many parts of the world, prices are still elevated – holding back economic growth, straining the finances of households and businesses, and complicating efforts to improve access to electricity. Energy markets, faced with an unusually high degree of geopolitical uncertainty, remain on edge.In Ukraine, the energy sector…