16 November 2017 - Bonn, Germany: The Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Global Industrial Efficiency, co-led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Carbon Trust held the first meeting of the Global Steering Group on the sidelines of the COP23, the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn. The Steering group will help shape the future strategy of intervention and activities of the program. The Steering Group consists of a range of influential organizations, each bringing specialist knowledge across a range of critical areas related to progressing energy efficiency implementation across industrial sectors.
Convened by UNIDO and the Carbon Trust the Steering Group comprises the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL); The World Bank; The Climate Investment Funds (CIF); The International Finance Corporation; The Global Environment Facility (The GEF); Green Climate Fund (GCF); International Energy Agency (IEA); The International Finance Cooperation (IFC), The International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC); The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); The Global Green Growth Initiative (GGGI); ClimateWorks, and industry representatives.
The Industrial Accelerator will target 15 countries with the aim of catalyzing the necessary uptake of energy efficiency by 2025 to help achieve SDG 7. The full program could total around US$45 million, with anticipated private sector leverage across the supply chain totaling over US$1 billion. During the meeting it was announced that Mexico and Morocco have become the first two countries to sign up to the Accelerator.
The SEforAll GIEEA represents a substantial opportunity to improve energy efficiency. Global industry accounts for 37 percent of the world’s total final energy consumption and one third of global GHG emissions; yet only 60 percent of identified energy efficiency potential is still to be realized. [1]
Industrial energy efficiency is key for saving costs, reducing stress on the electricity grid and climate change mitigation, in addition to supporting energy security by reducing demand. Industry benefits from energy efficiency not only from reduced bills but also increased productivity.
Rana Ghoneim, Industrial Development Officer at UNIDO said: “The SEforAll Accelerator brings together an excellent array of partners working together to identify means and ways to unlock the potential for industrial energy efficiency in key countries. We are very pleased to start a new phase of in-country work and invite industries and private sector players to join the program.”
James Wilde, Director of Policy & Innovation at the Carbon Trust said: “We’re delighted to convene such a high caliber of organizations to be part of the Steering Group for the SEforALL Global Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator and to be able to announce the participation of Mexico and Morocco. The level of response we have received to our call for support demonstrates how important this area is in the global efforts to address climate change. The capabilities represented will be enormously beneficial and will strengthen our ability to create a clear vision of how to further mobilize energy efficiency in the key industrial sectors.”
As co-conveners to deliver the Accelerator UNIDO and the Carbon Trust are working together to progress a number of areas including:
- Development of country-specific industrial energy efficiency policy measures;
- Creation of in-country capacity building to develop a portfolio of local energy efficiency experts and management approaches;
- Development of a pipeline of investable industrial energy efficiency projects; and
- Generation of financing solutions to unlock energy efficiency deployment.
Expected investments and interventions by the Accelerator will address barriers to energy efficiency by fostering enhanced access to information, skills, and methods to assess the costs and benefits of industrial energy efficiency policies and measures; building institutional capacity for policy design, development and implementation; reforming of distorted tariff structures and market incentives; and improving regulatory and legal frameworks to support energy service companies.
In April this year an initial two-year, $2million GEF-funded initiative was announced to create market transformation programs in five high impact countries depending on where their priorities lies. The intention is to prepare a further 10 additional countries to be program-ready for future scale-up.
For further information about the Accelerator please contact;
From UNIDO:
Rana Ghoneim
Industrial Development Officer – Energy Department
R.Ghoneim@unido.org
From Carbon Trust:
Tom Jennings
Director, Policy & Innovation
info@carbontrust.com
About the Carbon Trust
The Carbon Trust is an independent company with a mission to accelerate the move to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. The Carbon Trust:
- advises businesses, governments and the public sector on opportunities in a sustainable, low-carbon world;
- measures and certifies the environmental footprint of organisations, products and services;
- helps develop and deploy low-carbon technologies and solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power.
About UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability.
The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts towards sustainable development in the next fifteen years. UNIDO’s mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. The relevance of ISID, however, applies in greater or lesser extent to all SDGs.
Accordingly, the Organization’s programmatic focus is structured in three thematic priorities, each of which represents different aspects of ISID:
[1] International Energy Agency (2012), World Energy Outlook 2012. (Potential based on efficiency scenarios to 2035)
