It is almost springtime and the meeting season has already started.  It is Energy Efficiency Week at the IEA from March 12^th to 16^th and there are three important workshops.

• On Wednesday, March 14th a workshop on “The Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency” will expand on previous IEA work on multiple benefits for fuel poverty undertaken in 2011, to examine the full range of benefits available above and beyond traditional energy savings targets. The benefits attributed to energy efficiency measures range from localised benefits such as energy affordability and improved health and wellbeing, to sectoral benefits such as industrial productivity, and macro level outcomes such as energy security and economic development in developed and developing countries.

• On Thursday, March 15th a workshop on “The Future of Energy Efficiency Finance: Getting the policy instruments and institutions right” will provide for discussion of the future of energy efficiency finance with a focus on instruments for the building sector. Finance remains a barrier to scaling up investment in energy efficiency. The IEA is thus working to deepen the knowledge about how to use economic instruments to effectively address market failures and other barriers such as uncertainty and risk associated with energy efficiency investments.

• On Friday, March 16th a workshop on “Buildings Energy Efficiency Policies: The bumpy road to effective implementation” will discuss current buildings energy efficiency policies for new and existing buildings in the IEA and the BRICS countries and the barriers to their implementation at local level. The objective is to better understand the policy levers, such as developing long term incentive schemes, new commercial relationships and financial mechanisms, and providing clearer information about building energy performance, that could overcome the barriers faced by local authorities in implementing effective buildings energy efficiency policies.  This workshop will be co-sponsored by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.

Information on these workshops is available from the IEA website.

•  Separately in Paris, on Thursday, March 15^th, there is the final conference of the Low Carbon Societies Network concerning Energy Scenarios for France and Germany – How to Link Questions of Social Acceptance with Scenario Creation Processes?  One objective of the project is the creation of a European Network on Low Carbon Scenarios composed by Civil Society Organisations and researchers in order to establish a lively exchange on existing energy scenarios and best practices already applied today and indispensable to meet the requirements of a low carbon society.  Information is available at their website.