PARIS, June 8 (Xinhua/APP): Annual investments in improving energy efficiency must triple by 2030 in order for the world to remain able to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
Driven by spending on buildings and strong electric vehicle sales, global energy efficiency investment reached a record 600 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, the IEA said in its report titled Energy Efficiency: The Decade for Action.
In 2023, this figure is expected to increase to 624 billion U.S. dollars, but the year-on-year growth rate would be lower than in 2022 as the high cost of capital weighs heavily on potential new projects, the IEA warned.
In its report, published on the occasion of the IEA’s 8th Annual Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, the agency said that doubling annual energy efficiency progress to 4 percent annually by 2030 would require investment in the sector to rise from 600 billion U.S. dollars to over 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030.
The agency stressed that the 4 percent goal by 2030 would deliver vital reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time create jobs. According to the report, energy efficiency activities could generate 12 million jobs globally by 2030.
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