SEforALL Showcases Solutions for Energy Efficiency Improvement
The Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency (C2E2), the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiative’s Energy Efficiency Hub, hosted a global workshop to showcase various actions and solutions for energy efficiency improvement in cities and countries as well as the private sector. This Workshop had 70 participants including Governments officials from 17 countries, Development Banks, Corporations and international and regional research organizations.
The Workshop was held at the UN City, Copenhagen from 9 to 12 November 2015. The first two days provided a series of sessions covering the multiple benefits and enormous potential for energy efficiency improvement, investment and the various initiatives by private companies and financial institutions. It combined insights from leading international organizations such as the International Energy Agency, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Institute of Industrial Productivity, the SEforALL Global Facilitation Team, as well as the World Resources Institute. Several leading international companies reported their success in improving the energy efficiency of their products and supply chains, including Philips on lighting, Velux on roof windows, and Danfoss on district energy. An inspiring presentation was delivered by IKEA on their ongoing initiatives to promote energy efficient products among the 700 million customers visiting its furniture stores and 1 billion website hits each year.
Major international financial institutions also shared narratives on current and prospective initiatives as well as suggestions on how to overcome risks and mobilise public and private investment for energy efficiency actions and projects. The World Bank, International Financial Corporation, Green Climate Fund, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank as well as the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries all contributed to an active dialogue on their energy efficiency financing mechanisms and insights on emerging opportunities.
Through a mix of regional and global engagements, SEforALL continues to mobilize national and sub-national governments and the private sector in energy efficiency actions and investments through the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform. The Platform is a one of SEforALL's flagship programmes to support doubling the improvement rate of energy efficiency worldwide by 2030. The Copenhagen Centre supports the Accelerators Platform, which comprises leading companies and organizations in key sectors including buildings, transport, appliances, lighting, industry and district energy. At the Workshop, each accelerator presented their targets, strategies and actions to engage governments and businesses in preparation for showcasing actions at the COP21 in December 2015 in Paris.
There was also an interactive panel discussion on knowledge transfer involving energy experts, government officials, universities and other participants from Denmark, the United States, China, India Russia, South Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean as well as global organizations like International Partnership on Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). These panels shared energy efficiency policies and experiences from various countries.
Regional Centres presented key findings from reports that were recently published in partnership with the Copenhagen Centre on the status of energy efficiency, emerging initiatives and opportunities in four regions including: Africa; Southeast Asia; Latin America and Caribbean; and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Energy Conservation Centre Japan (ECCJ), which hosts the SEforALL Energy Efficiency Facilitation Hub, also highlighted their engagement and support for energy efficiency activities in several countries.
Day 3 and 4 of the workshop was dedicated to identifying specific needs for international support of energy efficiency initiatives in 11 targeted countries (Armenia, Belarus, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia). This part commenced with expert presentations on how to prepare energy efficiency roadmaps and identify opportunities, barriers and policy instruments for applications in industry, buildings, appliances and other key sectors. Breakout sessions involving Country participants, C2E2 staff, regional centers and other energy experts discussed priority energy efficiency activities that could be prioritized for support. These sessions culminated in representatives from targeted countries presenting at the workshop the current status of energy efficiency, existing policies, market gaps and needs for further international support in terms of capacity building, analysis and policy development.
The workshop sessions were combined with a field visit to some of Denmark’s leading energy efficiency projects. Workshop participants visited the State of Green in Copenhagen to see state-of-the-art energy efficiency solutions and technologies from Danish companies and organizations. The field trip also included a visit to a district cooling station and two examples of energy efficient buildings - the Danish Royal Playhouse and the UN City.
Read more at www.energyefficiencycentre.org