According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), energy efficiency must take a leading role as the “first fuel” in climate-related development assistance in order to achieve the dual objective of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while catalyzing economic development.

Addressing climate change will require a near complete transformation in the ways we generate, distribute, and use energy. To maximize the chances of mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, we must reduce the energy needed to sustain current energy consumption by using it more efficiently.