EBRD pushes energy efficiency for economy, climate

Spiking oil prices highlight the urgent need for more efficient energy use in Eastern Europe’s new market economies, to keep booming economic growth on track and ensure safe supplies in coming decades, EBRD officials say.

Experts at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development estimate the ex-communist states of east Europe and the former USSR use up to seven times more energy than western Europe to produce one unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Russia could save over 30 percent of its gas consumption, they could increase their export capacity substantially,” said Jan Willem van de Ven, an associate banker for the programme.

Reuters