The Global Environment Facility (GEF) on Monday, April 3, 2017 confirmed its support for the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Carbon Trust.
The announcement was made at the SEforALL Forum, where over 1,000 high-level representatives from government, business, civil society and international organisations have gathered in New York to drive action towards a sustainable energy system.
“Industrial energy efficiency is a no regret investment,” said CEO and Chairperson of GEF Naoko Ishii. “It helps our client countries meet their sustainable development goals, create jobs, and enhance economic security. We are pleased to be working with UNIDO, the Carbon Trust and many private sector partners to accelerate the adoption of energy management systems in key industry sectors.”
Through the Accelerator, UNIDO and the Carbon Trust will work in cooperation with a number of partners on disseminating and sharing best practices, policies, and toolkits to fast-track the rate of energy efficiency deployment in the industrial sector.
The Accelerator is a platform, which supports engagement between leading government officials, business leaders, trade associations, research agencies and investors to create a clear vision of how to further mobilise energy efficiency in the key industrial sectors. It delivers across a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by creating a multi-stakeholder partnership that promotes large scale initiatives to deliver more significant impacts across a range of different countries and industrial sectors. It also delivers multiple benefits from increased productivity as well as reductions in energy demand and related greenhouse gas (GHG) and local pollutants.
“GEF’s support for the Accelerator is very timely, as it will allow starting up in-country actions in at least 15 countries over the coming eight years to rapidly drive higher energy productivity in industry, a major segment with the potential to reduce energy use by a quarter by 2030 – or the equivalent of almost 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide. This makes a real impact in achieving SDG 7 – the goal of delivering affordable and clean energy,” said Philippe Scholtès, Managing Director of the Programme Development and Technical Cooperation at UNIDO.
James Wilde, Director of Policy and Innovation at the Carbon Trust, added: “We’re delighted to be working with two global partners, GEF and UNIDO. This will help amplify our ability to simultaneously improve industrial efficiency and tackle climate change. The Accelerator will help share experience and best practices in critical areas such as delivering financing solutions for energy efficiency deployment, broadening private sector engagement and building in-country technical capabilities.”
Expected investments and interventions by the accelerator will address barriers to energy efficiency by fostering enhanced access to information, skills, and methods to assess the costs and benefits of industrial energy efficiency policies and measures; building institutional capacity for policy design, development and implementation; reforming of distorted tariff structures and market incentives; and improving regulatory and legal frameworks to support energy service companies.
