The German G20 presidency, in cooperation with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC), has invited G20 partners and guest countries, international organisations, as well as research institutions, think tanks and business representatives to the G20 Energy Efficiency Forum 2017 today at Hamburg, Germany. The forum is intended as a contribution to best practice exchange among key stakeholders, as well as an incubator for ideas for intensified cooperation on energy efficiency at the G20 level and beyond.
Mark Lister, acting head of the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, is speaking at the opening panel to give an introduction to the role of energy efficiency to support the 2030 Agenda.
While today, many highly efficient technologies and business models to deploy these solutions already exist, further improvements in enabling frameworks for implementing solutions and scaling-up investments are urgently needed. In this regard, international cooperation – crucially in the G20 – and exchange have a key role to play.
Increasing energy efficiency will be crucial for sustainable development, ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services and transforming energy systems to significantly reduce emissions: According to the recent IEA/IRENA report “Perspectives for the energy transition – investment needs for a low-carbon energy system”, energy efficiency would account for 25 to 40 % of avoided carbon emissions until 2050.