Climate: 870 million tons of CO2 and 550 billion dollars saved globally thanks to energy efficiency

3/12/2015

In 2014, 870 million tons of CO₂ emissions were saved globally, with an energy bill saving of 550 billion dollars, thanks to a 300 billion dollar investment in energy efficiency, as reported by the IEA* Energy Efficiency Market Report presented at ENEA.

The IEA Report confirmed the strategic role energy efficiency plays as first green fuel globally, emphasizing the close relationship between energy and climate change.

The energy efficiency actions taken by the IEA member countries have allowed to save 10.2 billion tons of CO₂ in the last 25 years, equivalent to annual emissions by all the 29 member states. Besides environmental benefits, there have also been evident economic advantages: in the period 2010-2014, in fact, global energy consumption has decreased by 2% against a 3% growth estimate calculated without energy efficiency actions.

According to the report, Italy is well in line with the global trend, being able to rely on significant funding for the period 2014-2020: 355 million euro for the energy requalification of public buildings; over 100 million euro for energy diagnosis in SMEs; 350 million euro from the ex -Kyoto funding for energy efficiency actions in schools and universities; 1.5 billion euro from the structural funds destined to local Public Administration buildings; 3 million euro for the three-year training and information program.

“Energy efficiency has proven to be the most effective tool in reducing emissions, consistently with the objective of limiting global warming to 2 °C – said Alessandro Federici of the ENEA Energy Efficiency Technical Unit, contributor to the IEA Report with the Italian data - the IEA report shows that change is possible and economically convenient, because reducing fossil fuels consumption thanks to energy efficiency means cutting energy bills and stimulating research and innovation, helping to launch new markets”.

Although very promising, the IEA predictions highlight the necessity to do more: according to the scenario based on the continuance of current energy policies, the investments in energy efficiency will amount to 8 thousand billion dollars in 2050.

However, in order to meet the 2 °C goal, they should be over 14 thousand billion dollars, a figure capable of yielding an annual energy saving equal to the final consumption in 2012 of the EU and China combined.

“ENEA - Federici concluded - as National Agency for Energy Efficiency may contribute significantly by providing scientific support to companies in performing energy audits and to the Ministry for the Economic Development in monitoring existing energy efficiency policies aimed at reaching the energy saving target by 2020.”

*International Energy Agency

For more information please contact:

Alessandro Federici, ENEA Casaccia Research Center, alessandro.federici@enea.it
Chiara Martini, ENEA Headquarters, chiara.martini@enea.it

The unabridged report is available for download at:

https://www.iea.org/bookshop/709-Energy_Efficiency_Market_Report_2015

ENEA verso la COP21

Climate: 870 million tons of CO2 and 550 billion dollars saved globally thanks to energy efficiency

In 2014, 870 million tons of CO2 emissions were saved globally, with an energy bill saving of 550 billion dollars, thanks to a 300 billion dollar investment in energy efficiency, as reported by the IEA* Energy Efficiency Market Report presented at ENEA.

In 2014, 870 million tons of CO₂ emissions were saved globally, with an energy bill saving of 550 billion dollars, thanks to a 300 billion dollar investment in energy efficiency, as reported by the IEA* Energy Efficiency Market Report presented at ENEA.