Doubling Down: Seizing the Energy Demand and Efficiency Opportunity

The World Economic Forum's International Business Council emphasizes that transforming energy demand and improving energy efficiency is a critical, cost-effective lever for the energy transition. To meet the COP28 goal of doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030, the IEA estimates that annual investment must triple to $1.9 trillion. Business leaders claim that current technology could reduce future global demand by over 30% without losing output, potentially saving the global economy $2 trillion per year. The report identifies key barriers—including poor access to finance for SMEs and emerging markets, and a lack of energy demand focus in national plans—and proposes five government-led building blocks: integrating energy demand into NDCs, mobilizing finance, boosting industrial productivity, enhancing building efficiency, and supporting fuel-efficient transport.

• Achieving the energy efficiency target established at COP28 requires a tripling of annual investment to $1.9 trillion by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
• The use of existing technology to implement energy efficiency measures at scale could lower future global energy demand by more than 30% without reducing output, which could result in annual global economic savings of up to $2 trillion.
• Private sector investment in energy efficiency is hindered by three primary challenges: the absence of energy demand curbing in national transition plans, limited access to finance for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), and a lack of performance data in the transport, industry, and building sectors.
• The report proposes five government-led 'building blocks' to accelerate progress: incorporating energy demand into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), mobilizing public and private finance, increasing industrial energy productivity, improving the built environment's efficiency, and supporting fuel-efficient transport.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Doubling Down: Seizing the Energy Demand and Efficiency Opportunity. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Transforming_Energy_Demand_Initiative_AM25_Report.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Doubling Down: Seizing the Energy Demand and Efficiency Opportunity. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Transforming_Energy_Demand_Initiative_AM25_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Doubling Down: Seizing the Energy Demand and Efficiency Opportunity |date=January 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Transforming_Energy_Demand_Initiative_AM25_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025doubling, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Doubling Down: Seizing the Energy Demand and Efficiency Opportunity}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_IBC_Transforming_Energy_Demand_Initiative_AM25_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }