Energy is critical for human development – from the production and distribution of food to buildings, transport and all the products and services we use. Therefore, it is not surprising that the ongoing energy security challenges have already translated into worsening quality of life for millions of people around the world. The UN Development Programme found in July 2022 that as many as 71mn people could have been pushed into poverty in just the first three months since the start of the war in Ukraine in February.

Many countries around the world are talking about the urgent need to reduce energy consumption – but others remain silent. There are, however, many ways of saving resources and easing energy security pressures without impacting people’s ability to maintain their lifestyles.

Energy waste
The first and most obvious way is to stop wasting energy and other resources. For example, many parts of the world are facing dire natural gas shortages and energy prices are already very high. In Europe alone, household energy costs have doubled compared with a year ago, according to Energy Price Index data. Yet, on a yearly basis, the world loses around 163mn tonnes of natural gas as methane emissions, both wasting energy and contributing to global warming.

These losses represent over 6% of the world’s gas production. Calculations suggest that halving global human-made methane emissions would save enough energy to meet the combined gas needs of the UK, Italy, Germany and France, save the equivalent of 5 Gt of annual CO₂ emissions, and as much as $250bn/y at current European gas prices.

The good news is that finding and reducing these emissions is technologically possible and economically efficient today, as evidenced by OGCI Climate Investments’ methane reduction portfolio of nine companies, whose detection, measurement and mitigation technologies are delivering results for their customers. Many emitting firms are voluntarily committing to significant reductions, including through the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative launched by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) in 2022. But the world needs to go faster still, and methane emissions reduction needs to be a top priority worldwide today – with both policy and industrial action aligned to global energy security and climate goals.

Energy use
The next area to focus on is the use of energy – in housing, transportation, goods and services. According to the Sankey diagrams published annually for the US, about two-thirds of all energy produced by the energy industry does not create useful goods or services – but it does create emissions. So, one avenue for savings is to look for energy waste across all sectors – from transportation to industry.

As with methane reduction, many energy and resource efficiency technologies are also available for high-emitting sectors within energy, industry, built environments and transportation. OGCI Climate Investments has invested in 12 companies with such innovative and cost-efficient solutions. One of them is Solidia Technologies, whose unique cement formula and technology delivers CO₂ emissions reductions of more than 50% compared with traditional Portland cement. A UN report released during COP27 singled out the cement, iron and steel, and chemicals and petrochemicals industries as the most significant industrial CO₂ emitters.

Energy efficiency is not a new concept. Organisations including the International Energy Agency (IEA) have long been urging governments to focus on energy efficiency. For the world to stay on the IEA’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) by 2050 pathway, global energy intensity improvements to 2030 need to be almost three times faster than over the past decade, the IEA says.

An obtainable solution
The world currently faces the dual crises of energy security and climate, and it needs to address both. The pragmatic way to do this is to reduce the waste, but it will require concerted effort from all of us. Governments need to drive energy and resource efficiency requirements into industrial and consumer policies. Corporations need to make this a strategic priority, and consumers need to address waste in their daily life.

The cost of climate mitigation is high, and yet the cost of doing nothing is even higher, as people are already learning from the natural disasters we are all facing. This current energy security crisis could be the catalyst to a more efficient economy that can benefit both people’s wallets and the planet – if the world makes resource efficiency a priority.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author only and are not necessarily given or endorsed by or on behalf of the Energy Institute.

*The Energy Institute’s International Energy Week 2023 hybrid conference will be held at the Intercontinental London Park Lane hotel and broadcast online, on 28 February to 2 March 2023.