THE International Energy Association (IEA) have launched the IEA Energy Efficiency Indicators Online Training Courses in Mexico City, the first professional online courses to be delivered by the IEA.

The 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.

The online courses have been developed as part of the IEA’s Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies (E4) programme. 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.

“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, “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 – policymakers 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/

Source and photo: IEA