According to Energy Efficiency 2019, an annual report on energy efficiency by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the global rate of energy efficiency progress is slowing, which has major implications for consumers, businesses and the environment.

The global primary energy intensity, an important indicator of how heavily the world's economic activity uses energy, improved by just 1.2% in 2018, the slowest rate since the start of this decade.

The rate of improvement has now declined for three years in a row, leaving it well below the 3% minimum that IEA analysis shows is central to achieving global climate and energy goals.

"The historic slowdown in energy efficiency in 2018 - the lowest rate of improvement since the start of the decade - calls for bold action by policy makers and investors," said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA's Executive Director.

"We can improve energy efficiency by 3% per year simply through the use of existing technologies and cost-effective investments. There is no excuse for inaction: ambitious policies need to be put in place to spur investment and put the necessary technologies to work on a global scale," he added.

The need for stronger action underpins the work of the Global Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, which the IEA announced in July.

Headed by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, the commission's members include national leaders, government ministers and top business executives. It will produce recommendations next summer on how to achieve major breakthroughs in energy efficiency policy.

Source: IEA