EC Calls for International Agreement on Energy Efficiency

 

May 16 - Datamonitor

European energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs has called for the development of an international framework agreement on energy efficiency to help establish common approaches to saving energy on a global level.

Mr Piebalgs highlighted the need for a truly multi-lateral partnership for energy efficiency and said that, initially, the agreement would involve member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

The proposed agreement could include various areas of cooperation, such as regulatory cooperation, information exchange on energy saving strategies, methods of measurement and research cooperation on energy efficient technologies.

Mr Piebalgs said that the G8 Gleneagles dialogue could function as a governing board for the agreement and that the International Energy Agency (EIA) could play an important role as the executive body charged with studies and monitoring the agreement's implementation.

"Climate change and energy security are global challenges that must to be tackled at a global level," Mr Piebalgs said. "If every single country in the world adopted an approach to energy efficiency, we could reduce global CO2 emissions, improve global energy security and contribute massively to economic development and the emergence of new and clean technologies."

Mr Piebalgs made the proposal at a ministerial meeting of the EIA, during which energy ministers of EIA countries met to discuss how to establish a secure and environmentally sustainable energy future.

They discussed how to improve short- and long-term risks to energy security and the current trend of under-investment in energy infrastructure, as well as the role of rising energy nationalism in impeding investment and technology uptake.