C2E2 forges new partnerships in its first year

November 20, 2014

The Copenhagen Centre for Energy Efficiency (C2E2), which provides the institutional structure for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Energy Efficiency Hub has since its inception in October 2013 finalised its work plan, built key partnerships and has been analysing and promoting the acceleration of energy efficiency globally.

In June this year, C2E2 convened an international workshop of stakeholders to consult on the work plan and raise awareness about high impact opportunities that could contribute to accelerating energy efficiency. It finalised the work plan based on feedback from the workshop and extensive consultations with various stakeholders, including the Global Facilitation Team of the SE4All, the World Bank, UNEP, the Danish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Climate, and other SE4ALL partners.

A major development has been the establishment of the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform as an “umbrella” for a number of sector- or technology-oriented accelerators. The Global Platform is a public-private partnership that was established to help meet one of the three SE4LL’s interlinked objectives of doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030. The Global Platform has already engaged a number of leading private companies and institutional partners and has progressed from a concept in April to a formal launch as a major initiative at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Change Summit in New York in September 2014.
C2E2 has been providing technical and analytical support for the individual accelerators, and is going to continue to provide support for recently launched accelerators for Buildings, Appliances and Equipment and District Energy Systems. In addition to the established accelerators for Lighting and Vehicle Fuel Efficiency, C2E2 has helped develop new accelerator concepts for the Power Sector as well as for Industry.

Based on feedback from accelerators, the functions of C2E2 could be expanded to host the Secretariat of the Global Platform to provide coordination, information sharing and communication.

C2E2 has engaged a number of regional partners to undertake an analysis of the potential for energy efficiency, existing policies that promote energy efficiency and the barriers that are preventing further acceleration. These partners are Fundacion Bariloche in Argentina, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, Centre for Energy Efficiency (CENEf) in Moscow and The Energy Research Centre (ERC) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.

In addition, C2E2 has been engaging with other organizations working with energy efficiency. For instance, it has been engaging with the World Bank on its Readiness for Investment in Sustainable Energy (RISE) program, which is developing a set of indicators at the national level to assess the legal and regulatory environment for investment in sustainable energy. The C2E2 is part of the Advisory Group for this initiative and has contributed to reviewing the indicators. Likewise, C2E2 is engaged in the work of SE4ALL’s Global Tracking Framework which is being led by the World Bank and the IEA.

Since September 2014, the C2E2 has been working with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on a joint analytical paper to investigate potential synergies between the two SE4ALL global objectives by 2030: doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix and doubling the global rate of energy efficiency improvement, which is to be finalised by January 2015.
C2E2 has contributed to various publications such as the 2014 Emissions Gap Report where a chapter on energy efficiency has been included for the first time. C2E2 has also contributed to the 2014 edition of the REN 21 Global Status Report highlighting the nexus between energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Other partnerships include engagement with the International Energy Agency, United Nations Regional Commissions, European Union, and the Energy Charter Secretariat and various other organisations.