For more than a decade, EE Global has served as the efficiency elite’s gathering place—the one event that draws together business executives, government leaders, and advocates from across sectors and continents for actionable dialogues on advancing energy efficiency. This year, EE Global has been transformed into a series of webinars.

The first webinar was held at the end of April with a lively discussion on the world’s progress in energy efficiency resources and how the threat of Covid-19 affects the future of global energy development and innovation. Five speakers from four nations presented during the webinar, offering perspectives on energy efficiency from cross the globe.

Guests included Clay Nesler, Interim President of the Alliance to Save Energy & Johnson Controls Vice President, Global Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs, He Ping, Industry Program Director of Energy Foundation China, Jeff Eckel, President, CEO and Chairman of capital provider Hannon Armstrong, Joyce Henry, Director General of the Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada, and Italian politician Monica Frassoni, President & founder of European Alliance to Save Energy.

Mr. Nesler began the presentation with highlights from the 2019 Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey. The study surveyed answers from 1,300 facility and energy management executives in 10 countries, in both the public and private sectors. Nesler noted that study was conducted in November and December 2019, before the global pandemic.

He spoke to the strong progress energy efficiency has made over the last year. A majority of people in 8 out of the 10 nations surveyed planned to increase investments in energy efficiency over the next 12 months. When asked why energy efficiency was important for their organization, the top answer respondents gave was cost savings.

Mr. Eckel spoke next about the current investment trends in energy efficiency. Eckel revealed that investment from his company in energy efficiency and renewables was combining and becoming “blurred”—which strengthens the industry overall. He also cited advances in energy storage as a big driver of investment.

Dr. Ping followed, giving viewers a Chinese perspective on energy efficiency and how Covid-19 has affected the nation. “We must be consistent in addressing climate change and energy efficiency,” he explained.

He then spoke about how China’s GDP has taken a large hit from the virus, with citizens staying home for over two months already, and how the nation has been developing a stimulus package of its own to cushion the blow to the economy.

Next up was Ms. Frassoni, who presented from Brussels. She spoke of current European Union initiatives for economic development that aligned with the Paris Agreement. She noted that one of the most interesting consequences of CD19 was the reassessing of current and new regulations.

She said that three main points where energy efficiency is important are buildings, transport, and industry. But with the pandemic, progress is obviously more complicated than before. She continued by saying that getting back to work is a race in Europe.

Ms. Henry spoke last, commenting on Canada’s perspective regarding energy efficiency and the global pandemic. Henry said that her government is focused on public health and ensuring economy stability for citizens and in study. And with respect to recovery, she said the nation is focused on job creation and how to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Mr. Nesler closed out the Webinar by saying there seems to be a great deal of commonality between the regions. He invited attendees to join the next webinar, which will be held today and is titled, “Flattening the Curve: Climate Crisis Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Crisis, Presented by the Digital Climate Alliance.” Another webinar is set for May 27.