Oil Crises and Climate Challenges : 30 years of Energy Use in IEA Countries

This publication examines how energy efficiency and other factors such as economic structure, income, lifestyle, prices, and fuel mix have shaped developments of energy use and CO2 emissions in IEA countries since the organisation was founded 30 years ago. The study provides some challenging findings. For example, the rate of energy savings in IEA economies has slowed since 1990, as has the decline in CO2 emissions relative to GDP. This shows that the changes caused by the oil price shocks in the 1970s and the resulting energy policies did considerably more to control growth in energy demand and reduce CO2 emissions than the energy efficiency and climate policies implemented in the 1990s. From Oil Crisis to Climate Challenge: 30 Years of Energy Use in IEA Countries provides energy and climate policy makers with important data and insights that will help shape ways to use energy efficiency and lower-carbon fuels to achieve a more sustainable future.