The United Nations Economics Commission for Europe has recently launched a new publication ‘Best Policy Practices for promoting Energy Efficiency’ under the framework of the United Nations Development Account project “Promoting Energy Efficiency Investments for Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development”. The Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, which serves as the Energy Efficiency Hub of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative, has also contributed to it.
The publication comes at a time when the benefits of improving energy efficiency is widely recognized and stressed upon. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2014-2024 as the International Decade of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), following the UN Secretary General’s initiative and emphasizing the importance of energy issues for sustainable development. One of the three objectives of the SE4All initiative is to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.
While significant potential for improving energy efficiency exists worldwide, attempts to improve it often fall short because of inadequate national policy frameworks or lack of enforcement of appropriate legislation. As such, improvements in energy efficiency have remained elusive.
This publication highlights best policy practices for promoting energy efficiency in the UNECE region and beyond by presenting a structured framework of policies and measures to promote energy efficiency investments for climate change mitigation and sustainable development, as well as to develop a menu of energy efficiency policies and measures.
The publication will serve as a useful guide to governments, the business community, experts, project developers, and other stakeholders in understanding and applying best policy practices in improving energy efficiency.
