Global energy efficiency has dropped to its lowest rate since 2010, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
 
IEA notes primary energy intensity, which it uses to indicate the intensity of energy used for global energy consumption, improved by a mere 1.2% in 2018.
 
IEA has highlighted the decline, now for the third year in a row, leaving it well below the 3% minimum rate required to meet international climate and energy goals.
 
If the minimum were to have been achieved, the global economic output would have been $2.6 trillion higher, for the same amount of energy used.
 
The agency has warned that this slowing trend has “major implications” across both consumer and business sectors, and the environment and says the world’s governments and corporations must strive to reverse the decline, by encouraging the deployment of sustainable technologies and focussing on digitalisation.
 
Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, said: “We can improve energy efficiency by 3% per year simply through the use of existing technologies and cost-effective investments.