Slower energy efficiency progress in industry since 2007

  • Energy efficiency in EU industry improved by 1.1%/year on average since 2000, as measured with the energy efficiency index.
  • The energy efficiency improvement rate has slowed down since 2007 (0.9%/year compared to 1.6%/year between 2000 and 2007) because of a slower progress in some branches and even no more energy efficiency improvement for others because of the recession (in particular in most energy intensive branches, e.g. cement, steel).
  • The energy efficiency index in industry is calculated as a weighted average of sub-sectoral indices of energy efficiency progress at the level of 10 branches:
    • 4 main branches: chemicals, food, textile and equipment goods;
    • 3 energy intensive branches: steel, cement and pulp and paper
    • 3 residual branches: other primary metals (i.e. primary metals minus steel), other non-metallic minerals (i.e. non-metallic minerals minus cement) and printing. This index is corrected from the apparent loss of energy efficiency due to the recession and corresponds to a technical index.
  • Sub-sectoral indices are expressed in terms of energy used per ton produced for energy intensive products (steel, cement and paper) and in terms of energy used related to the production index for the other branches. 

Energy efficiency index by branch (EU)

  • Energy efficiency in industry has been significatifly improved before the economic crisis in 2007-2008. Improvements are slowed down since then, and especially since 2014 (less than 2%/years in most countries).

Energy efficiency trends in industry in EU countries (2000-2021)