Over 120 people from more than 40 countries take part in IEA’s energy efficiency training week

The International Energy Agency last week brought together over 120 policy makers and energy professionals from more than 40 countries at its energy efficiency training week in Paris to develop expertise in energy efficiency policy making and underline the important role it can play in emerging and developing economies.

The Energy Efficiency Policy in Emerging Economies Training Week was held from 17 to 21 April at the IEA’s Paris headquarters. The IEA has been holding these week-long events since 2015, training more than 2,000 energy efficiency professionals from over 120 countries in total. The participants are primarily from government institutions and supporting organisations in emerging economies.

The sessions are dedicated to sharing experiences and best practices for planning, implementing, and evaluating energy efficiency policies in emerging economies. By focusing on building policy-making capacity in these countries, the IEA aims to expand its community of energy efficiency practitioners that can implement effective policy, helping to unlock this potential.

“All countries have different energy mixes, and different economic and social priorities, but one thing they all have in common is room to improve energy efficiency. It needs to be treated as the very first fuel, as it makes energy more affordable while supporting energy security and climate change objectives,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “As the biggest opportunities to improve energy efficiency are in emerging and developing economies, they are the focus of our Energy Efficiency Policy Training Week, which has been going strong for many years now.”

The training week kicked off with a high-level panel session hosted by Dr Birol and attended by the Ambassadors to France of Brazil, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

“With energy efficiency, less is more: It means that energy will be cheaper for all households,” said Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu, Kenya’s Ambassador to France. “It also means that we will improve our investment profile as a country and be better able to attract industries. The Ambassador also said: “We have many opportunities for increasing energy efficiency.’’

This year’s training week was the first to be held in person after three years of virtual events due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It consisted of five parallel courses, covering energy efficiency in Appliances & Equipment, Smart Cities, Buildings, Indicators & Evaluation, and Industry. Participants were presented with a detailed introduction to energy efficiency policy packages and took part in a series of sector-focused workshop and group activities aimed at building policy-making capacity.

The training weeks form part of the IEA’s Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies Programme and are carried out with funding from the Agency’s Clean Energy Transitions Programme. The annual events aim to help build a community of experts so that effective efficiency policies can play an essential role in clean energy transitions, making energy more affordable and accessible to all. You can visit the event page for more details.