Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership

The document outlines a framework for public-private collaboration to reduce global energy demand, which is projected to increase by up to 33% by 2050. It identifies five key building blocks for government action: integrating energy demand into national planning (NDCs), mobilizing finance, boosting industrial energy productivity, enhancing efficiency in the built environment, and supporting fuel-efficient transport. The brief emphasizes that demand-side action could offer a 31% reduction in demand and annual savings of $2 trillion for the global economy.

• Global energy demand is projected to rise by up to 33% by 2050, driven by economic growth and energy-intensive technologies like artificial intelligence, which threatens to slow the energy transition and strain power networks.
• Demand-side actions using current technology could achieve a short-term, cost-efficient reduction in energy demand of 31% across all economic sectors, potentially unlocking $2 trillion in annual savings for the global economy.
• Despite a COP28 pledge by over 120 countries to double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvement to over 4%, the actual rate reached only 1.3% in 2023.
• The International Business Council (IBC) recommends that governments prioritize market-led, technology-neutral approaches in national planning, setting quantified goals and allowing the market to determine the most efficient solutions.
• In the industrial sector, which accounts for 38% of global energy demand, the most critical government levers are tax relief for efficiency investments, minimum energy performance standards (MEPS), and fostering collaboration between industry players.
• For the built environment, which represents 30% of global energy demand, key priorities include direct tax credits for retrofitting, more stringent minimum building efficiency codes, and streamlined administrative permitting.
• Transport accounts for 26% of global energy demand; the IBC suggests that governments should focus on incentives for zero- and low-emission vehicles, ensuring EV charging infrastructure capacity, and adopting international efficiency standards.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Transforming_Energy_Demand_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Transforming_Energy_Demand_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership |date=January 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Transforming_Energy_Demand_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025transforming, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Transforming Energy Demand: Accelerating Business Action through Government Leadership}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Transforming_Energy_Demand_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }