More than 110 governments have introduced measures to conserve energy or support consumers since the Middle East crisis began disrupting fuel markets. Canada suspended its federal fuel excise tax and brought in targeted help for airlines. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, says those were necessary stopgaps, and that the bigger opportunity is quieter: using less energy.
Writing in the Financial Post, Birol argued that Canada’s overlooked advantage is efficiency. The IEA has long called it the world’s “first fuel,” because the cheapest and most secure energy is the kind nobody has to produce or buy. The current crisis, he wrote, has exposed how vulnerable countries are when they burn more energy than their economies need to grow.
Lessons from the 1970s
Birol pointed back to the oil shocks of that decade. Governments, Canada’s included, responded with stronger building energy codes, appliance standards and vehicle efficiency rules. Within roughly ten years, big household items such as refrigerators and cars had become nearly twice as efficient. He called the result prosperity rather than sacrifice: higher living standards, lower bills and sturdier economies.
The world economy now needs about half the energy it did in the 1970s to produce the same output. That, Birol wrote, helped economies absorb this year’s energy supply shock.
Policy already in place
Most of the tools exist already, according to Birol. What governments lack is scale and speed. He argued that the push matters more as electricity demand climbs with data centres, air conditioning, industry and electric vehicles, and he said modern grids should be built for efficiency and flexibility.
He noted signs of movement. Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have made significant recent investments in efficiency. Ottawa continues to support it through several initiatives, notably on affordability, and the government’s new electrification strategy reflects that. Elsewhere, more than 20 governments have brought in new structural measures in recent weeks to speed up efficiency and electrification. Consumers, too, are buying heat pumps and EVs to gain control over their energy bills and avoid volatile fuel prices.
Birol described efficiency as a triple dividend: stronger energy security, lower costs and greater competitiveness, with local jobs on top. Canada, “renowned worldwide for its natural resources,” could also become a leader in energy productivity, he wrote, if it treats efficiency as a core part of its strategy, with clear goals, stable policy and long-term investment.
Ministers and business leaders from every continent were due in Montreal the following week for the IEA Global Conference on Energy Efficiency, co-hosted with the Government of Canada. It is the first time the annual event has been held in the Americas.
