IEA launches Energy Efficiency Indicators Online Training Courses

*This is a United for Efficiency Partner Story and was originally published on the IEA website

The IEA launched the IEA Energy Efficiency Indicators Online Training Courses in Mexico City yesterday, the first professional online courses to be delivered by the IEA. These two e-learning courses – essentials for policymakers and fundamentals for statistics – will provide statisticians and policymakers with the tools to collect the information necessary to create energy efficiency indicators. The goal of these courses is to give policymakers and statisticians the skills and knowledge to support effective energy efficiency policy and ultimately scale-up energy efficiency improvements.

Developed as part of the IEA’s Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies (E4) programme, the online courses mark another milestone in IEA’s partnership with the energy efficiency community. The E4 Programme, in partnership with the Mexican Secretariat of Energy (SENER), already holds regular energy efficiency webinars for a wide range of stakeholders in Mexico. Since 2014, a total of 20 webinars have been organised and attended by more than 3,500 people cumulatively.

Speaking at this global launch, which brought together over 70 representatives from the main institutions related to energy and statistic sectors, H.E. Leonardo Beltran Rodriguez, Deputy Secretary for Energy Planning and Transition at SENER said, “We feel privileged to be part of the launch of this platform, in order to share our experiences but also learn from other countries. Mexico’s collaboration with the IEA allows us all to learn, understand and share what the future can hold if we consider energy efficiency as a way to move forward in the energy sector.”

“To better understand the drivers and potential for energy efficiency, it is important to develop and maintain well-founded energy efficiency indicators,” said Brian Motherway, Head of the Energy Efficiency Division at the IEA, in his opening remarks, “Unlocking the global potential for energy efficiency progress relies on good information, and that is why capacity building is so important.”

The target audience for these courses – policy makers and statisticians – are both essential to ensuring that well-targeted and effective energy efficiency policies are designed and implemented, but they often speak different languages. Through these courses, the IEA aims to foster a mutual understanding so that together policymakers and statisticians can scale-up energy efficiency improvements through evidence-based policies.

The courses have been developed from the two IEA manuals on energy efficiency indicators, which have already been successfully used to build capacity within governments and enable action on energy efficiency around the world. Building upon this success, this new e-learning format walks users through a series of interactive, self-paced lessons, as IEA experts take users step-by-step and sector-by-sector through the fundamental aspects and theories of energy efficiency indicators.

The online courses can be accessed for free at https://edx.iea.org/

A video of the full launch presentation is available https://youtu.be/8IMBKhzEX7E/