2023-11-29 06:46:21
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Inflation and interest rates as explanations
Inflation and rising interest rates “are expected to reduce investment growth” in energy efficiency “to just 4% in 2023, compared to an average of 20% for the previous two years”, marked by recovery plans following the Covid-19 pandemic, underlines the IEA in its report.
The OECD energy agency, created in Paris following the oil crisis of 1973, emphasizes that these results are far below the road map it had drawn up last spring.
“If governments want to maintain the 1.5 degree Celsius target [de réchauffement de la planète fixé par les accords de Paris en 2015] within reach while supporting energy security, it is essential to double progress in energy efficiency during this decade,” recalled IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, quoted in the report.
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The role of heat waves
The report highlights strong disparities: the European Union and the United States, for example, are expected to record “robust” increases in their energy efficiency this year, of between 4 and 14%. In addition to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, some of these countries benefited from a very mild winter, which notably contributed to reducing gas consumption in Europe by more than 15%.
Conversely, historic heatwaves in 2023 have caused demand for air conditioners and related emissions to explode in countries like China.
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