Energy management + energy efficiency
Tracking energy efficiency progress globally In its latest annual analysis on global energy efficiency developments, Energy Efficiency 2025 , the International Energy Agency (IEA) reveals recent trends in energy intensity and demand, investment, employment and policy. The report, released in November 2025, provides sector-specific analysis on industry, buildings, appliances and transport and explores system-wide themes such as emissions reductions, energy security, affordability and competitiveness.
demand growth has accelerated since 2019, while the average annual rate of industrial energy intensity improvement fell to under 0.5% over that same period, compared to almost 2% in the last decade. This global shift towards more intensive energy use in industry is offsetting gains made in other sectors and is weighing down overall efficiency progress. Policy is lagging technology Policies have lagged technology progress, leaving significant savings on the table. Many appliances being sold today are only half as efficient as the best available models. As technologies have become more efficient in recent years, energy efficiency standards have not progressed at the same pace. For
Although there is significant scope to progress energy efficiency, IEA analysis shows that efficiency gains since 2010 have had a major impact in reducing today’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency remains one of the key drivers to lower emissions in future.
T he Executive summary of the report outlines key findings, as below. Global energy efficiency progress was set to improve by 1.8% in 2025, up from around 1% in 2024. Preliminary estimates indicate several key regions are showing signs of stronger progress compared to their average since 2019. For example, energy intensity progress in 2025 was estimated to be over 3% in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter ‘China’) and over 4% in India, well above their averages in the years since 2019. In the United States and the European Union (EU), on the other hand, progress in 2025 was set to fall below 1% after several years of stronger performance following the energy crisis. Yet the world remains off track to achieve the COP28 ambition for 2030. In 2023, nearly 200 governments agreed at COP28 in Dubai to work together to collectively double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. However, global energy efficiency progress – measured by the rate of change in primary energy intensity – has fallen to 1.3% per year on average since 2019. This is just over half its longer-term average of around 2% per year in the period 2010 to 2019, and well below the COP28 target of a 4% annual improvement by 2030. Four key trends are holding back faster progress. Slow progress in the industrial sector Around two-thirds of global final energy demand growth since 2019 has been concentrated in industry, a sector where energy intensity progress has slowed sharply. Industrial energy
example, the efficiency of best-in-class lightbulbs doubled in the last 15 years, yet minimum performance standards have gone up by only 30%. Rapidly rising cooling demand Increased access to air conditioners has pushed up cooling- related electricity demand. Higher living standards have allowed more people to afford cooling technologies such as air conditioners, especially in emerging economies. Energy for space cooling has seen the fastest growth of any end-use in buildings since 2000, growing over 4% per year. However, this increased demand has been met with equipment that is not highly efficient, further straining energy systems at a time of rapid growth. If every air conditioner bought since 2019 had been the most efficient available, the world could have avoided electricity demand growth equivalent to the demand growth from data centres over the same period. System inefficiencies Electricity demand growth has outpaced renewable supply leading to an overall increase in less efficient fossil fuel generation. Electricity demand has grown two to three times faster than overall energy demand since 2019. In some regions, this rising demand has led to greater use of inefficient generation sources, placing upward pressure on primary energy demand and slowing progress in improving energy intensity. The report further notes that investments in advancing
12 Electricity + Control APRIL 2026
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