Harnessing energy productivity for industrial competitiveness

As we navigate the complex path to a cleaner world, energy productivity, the economic value generated per unit of energy consumed, must become a central pillar of growth strategy.

Put simply, we must deliver greater prosperity and better standards of living to people around the globe by using energy more efficiently. Creating more value from lower energy and material inputs is an environmental imperative as well as an economic opportunity. The materials, chemicals and fuels that power modern economies are fundamental to competitiveness, resilience and long-term economic strength.

This technical briefing makes a clear case: energy productivity is crucial to keeping the cost of decarbonisation low speeding up industry transformation and enhancing industrial competitiveness in a low-carbon world. Implementing key efficiencies could reduce final energy demand by up to 45% compared to business-as-usual.

The three efficiency levers are:

• Technical efficiency – reducing the kWh input required to deliver the same product or service.
• Service efficiency – reducing the volume of product or service required to deliver the same standard.
• Material efficiency – reducing the material input to deliver a given product.

The benefits are substantial. In aluminium, secondary production through recycling is approximately 95% less energy-intensive than primary production; in steel, recycled production can reduce energy use by around 60–80%. In cement, reducing clinker content is the biggest lever to lower energy requirements at the production stage, but optimising building design represents a major lever to reduce the need for energy-intensive materials in the first place. In aviation, improvements in aircraft weight, aerodynamics, and operations could reduce fuel demand by around 25%, saving an estimated $135 billion annually by 2050.

Read | Harnessing energy productivity technical briefing