Scaling Up Energy Efficiency

Problem: La eficiencia energética se relaciona directamente con acciones para mitigar el cambio climático. Además, tiene otros beneficios adicionales vinculados con el acceso a la energía, la seguridad energética, la productividad de las economías regionales y la creación de empleo, entre otros. Sin embargo, en general existen distintas barreras, las cuales son significactivas cuando hablamos de países en desarrollo como son los de Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Existen barreras económicas, regulatorias, políticas, institucionales, culturales, tecnológicas, de información y de financiamiento, algunas más fuertes que otras dependiendo el país. El desafío es encontrar aquellas políticas, estrategias e instrumentos que permiten remover, o al menos educir, las mencionadas barreras.Key message: Principales desafíos para desplegar políticas exitosas de eficiencia energética en la región de Latinoamérica y Caribe.Speakers: Andrea Viviana Heins, Odón de BuenSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepccc.org/kms_object/desafios-y-barreras-para-desplegar-politicas-de-eficiencia-energetica-en-latinoamerica-y-el-caribe-podcast/

Problem: La eficiencia energética se relaciona directamente con acciones para mitigar el cambio climático. Además, tiene otros beneficios adicionales vinculados con el acceso a la energía, la seguridad energética, la productividad de las economías regionales y la creación de empleo, entre otros. Sin embargo, para lograr acceder al potencial existente de eficiencia energética es necesario derribar distintas barreras: económicas, regulatorias, políticas, institucionales, culturales, tecnológicas, de información y de financiamiento que bloquean el desarrollo de un mercado de bienes y servicios de eficiencia energética. La elaboración y aprobación de una ley de eficiencia energética, que se ajuste al contexto específico del país, es un hito para el desarrollo del sector energético; y si bien la misma no garantiza el éxito de los objetivos planteados, brinda una base sólida que será el sostén para el desarrollo de la eficiencia energética en el país.Key message: Leyes de Eficiencia Energética como instrumentos para remover barreras, potenciar la adopción de medidas y capturar los múltiples beneficios asociados.Speakers: Andrea Viviana Heins, Afonso BlancoSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepccc.org/kms_object/leyes-de-eficiencia-energetica-en-latinoamerica-y-el-caribe-podcast/

Problem:Today’s podcast will explore the application and use of carbon footprint calculations, that is GHG accounting and lifecycle analysis, with Vanja Wylie. In today’s talk, we will discuss, among others, how to GHG accounting can inform decisions on energy efficiency.Key message:Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic, standardised approach to quantifying a product's or system's potential environmental impacts. GHG Accounting is more narrow in its assessment of environmental impacts in that it quantifies the total greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly from a business or organisation’s activities. Both are increasingly popular among financial and other organisations in making informed decisions on the sustainability of investment portfolios. Data gaps aggravate this and are particularly pertinent in developing countries, but solutions exist. In making decisions on energy efficiency, especially in weighing options, GHG accounting can help take a full lifecycle perspective that accounts not just for energy performance and operational carbon but also material and production carbon intensity and what is referred to as embodied carbon.Speakers: Elisabeth Resch, Vanja Elizabeth WylieSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepccc.org/kms_object/informed-decision-making-on-portfolio-decarbonisation-using-ghg-accounting-and-lifecycle-analysis-podcast/

Problem:It is a critical time for energy efficiency. Despite its recognised importance, improvements have fallen short of expectations. Energy efficiency increase amounted to only around 2% per year between 2011 and 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic further hit energy efficiency efforts hard. In 2020, improvements were estimated to be only 0.8%, which is substantially lower than the SDG target of 2.6% per year. The International Energy Agency finds that progress on energy efficiency globally recovered in 2021 to a pre-pandemic pace but remained well short of what would be needed to help put the world on track to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.The inadequate improvements stem from insufficient energy efficiency investments, despite the ostensibly strong business case for energy efficiency. While wind and solar power investments have increased substantially, energy efficiency investments have not grown at an equal pace. Global investments in energy efficiency have not risen significantly in recent years.Key message:A path towards reaching net zero emissions by 2050 requires total annual investment in energy efficiency worldwide to triple by 2030. Financing energy efficiency investments must be feasible and include a broad set of instruments, including equity-based financing.Speakers: Elisabeth Resch, Alexander AblazaSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/financing-energy-efficiency-investments-podcast/

Problem:Information and communication technologies (ICTs) could help address climate concerns and enable the much-needed shift toward a circular economy (CE). The ICTs could also contribute to global carbon emissions and generate waste during its production, usage and obsolescence phases. What type of collaborations do we need to address sustainable ICT development?Key message:Climate change actions and digitalisation movement should influence each other and at the strategy level, digitalisation should address energy and environmental concerns to lay down a green recovery and low carbon development path. An environmental responsibility mind-set amongst stakeholders, including the ICT sector, policy makers, citizens and academia is needed to form concerted and timely actions.Speakers: Malcolm Johnson, Xiao WangSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/sustainable-ict-development-and-the-role-of-itu-digigreen-ep-1-podcast/

Problem:Geographic Information Systems or Geographic Information Science (GIS) has the potential to be more and more used in energy planning processes. From studies on energy access to grid analytics, researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable energy have started to recognise to potential of this system. Nevertheless, energy efficiency studies and applications are not as present and, consequently, GIS remains still an abstract concept. However, the deployment of GIS for energy efficiency encompasses multiple sectors, from buildings to street lights to transport and district energy. During this podcast, some examples on how to apply GIS to case studies related energy efficiency are introduced. Starting off with a brief explanation on what is GIS and how it works, the audience will listen to some examples on the potential of GIS in the energy efficiency world.First, to provide an example of a detailed study and of an online application of GIS, the podcast explains how satellite data and administrative data created datasets that explore electrification and energy access (both current and potential) in countries of the Global South.Moving on with energy efficiency deployments of GIS, the following case study comes from the US and looks at how comparable scoring systems on the energy consumption of houses build upon GIS applications and are used by government agencies. Subsequently, an example of using GIS to evaluate energy efficiency projects is detailed. Lastly, the conversation looks into GIS potential for efficient public lighting in cities.With this podcast, the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency hopes that the audience will get a glance of what is GIS and why it is a tool with relevance and potential for scaling up energy efficiency across sectors.Key message:Few investigated the application of spatial analysis with GIS for energy efficiency. This podcast explores relevant implementation cases and potential.Speakers: Susana Adriana Paardekooper, Valeria ZambianchiSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/geographic-information-system-gis-applications-for-scaling-up-energy-efficiency-podcast/

Problem:Energy efficiency is becoming more and more recognised as a cost-effective mitigation measure for achieving the Paris Agreement and SDGs, however, it is considered a not very tangible, not too sexy, relatively fragmented and small-scale efforts. The question that many actors are facing in the field is to how to bring the scale to Energy Efficiency on the local, national and global levelKey message:Derisking buildings through green mortgages can help to bring scale to energy efficiency investments.Speakers: Ksenia Petrichenko, Steven BorncampSupport: Aristeidis Tsakirishttps://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/derisking-investments-into-green-buildings-podcast/