Washington, DC, USA, 11 July 2018: The World Energy Rankings for 2018, released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), make for sober reading, the body alluded through a Press communiqué.

The ACEEE recently published The 2018 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which suggests that while some countries do much better than others in saving energy, all can better use efficiency to meet their Paris Agreement climate goals, the organisation said in a Press communiqué.

According to ACEEE, this fourth biennial scorecard ranks 25 of the world’s largest energy users on 36 efficiency metrics and highlights best practices that countries can use to boost their energy savings. It includes the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine for the first time, the communiqué said.

The Scorecard, which can be accessed here: http://aceee.org/research-report/i1801, reveals that no country came close to a perfect score, and the average remained the same as in 2016 – 51 out of a possible 100 points, the communiqué said. Overall, Germany and Italy tie for first place this year with 75.5 points, closely followed by France (73.5), the United Kingdom (73), and Japan (67), the communiqué further said. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with scores of 18 and 16.5 points, respectively, are at the lower end of this year’s rankings; however, scores for these countries, in part, reflect poor data availability, the communiqué added.

Commenting on the results, Steve Nadel, Executive Director, ACEEE, said: “Our results show that all countries would benefit from adopting additional energy-efficiency policies. These policies will reduce dependence on energy imports, create jobs, cut pollution, and save people and businesses money. They will also help countries remain globally competitive and meet climate goals.” Nadel also noted that global energy demand is projected to grow 30% by 2040.

Within sectors, Germany scored best for national efforts, including cross-cutting targets and programmes, the communiqué said. Spain gained the top spot for buildings-related efforts, while Japan led on industry and France on transportation, the communiqué further said. Meanwhile, the United States slid from eighth place in 2016 to 10th in 2018, by scoring six fewer points, the communiqué added.

According to the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency will need to account for almost half of all the greenhouse gas emission reductions necessary through 2040 to limit the global increase in temperature to two degrees C. The communiqué said that countries should build efficiency into their economic and energy-related plans and learn from one another, by emulating the best policies and practices of leading countries, in order to meet climate targets and reap the multiple benefits of energy efficiency.