Energy efficiency is back at the center of the transition — and Southeast Asia is moving fast

Last December, the International Energy Agency convened more than 150 energy efficiency professionals from across Southeast Asia in Vietnam for an intensive regional training week.

The program brought together policymakers, technical specialists, and industry practitioners to focus on one shared challenge: how to translate energy efficiency ambition into delivery.

Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services was represented by Rakesh Vazirani, Director of Decarbonization and Cleaner Production, who joined discussions spanning policy design, technical capability, and industrial implementation.

From awareness to execution — with capacity building still essential

A clear theme emerged throughout the week.
While awareness and capacity building remain essential foundations, the conversation has evolved. Increasingly, leading facilities are focused on execution — turning audits, targets, and roadmaps into sustained improvement.

Discussions moved beyond why energy efficiency matters, and into how it can be delivered at scale:

• Strengthening technical and organizational capacity
• Translating policy into factory-level action
• Prioritizing measures with clear payback
• Embedding energy efficiency into everyday operations

Energy efficiency is often described as the “first fuel.”
What stood out during the program is that it is also the most immediately actionable — proven, available today, and scalable across industries and supply chains.

What this means for manufacturers and brands

This mirrors what we see across our work with manufacturers in Asia.
For many organisations, the priority remains building awareness and internal capability. For more advanced sites, the challenge is different: how to move from assessments and plans to consistent, long-term performance gains.

That transition requires clarity at site level — understanding where energy is used, which actions matter most, and how to prioritise investment. Structured energy diagnosis plays a key role in enabling this shift from insight to sustained improvement.

Learn more about our Energy Diagnosis approach here

As Southeast Asia accelerates its energy transition, collaboration between policymakers, industry leaders, and implementation partners will shape what progress looks like on the ground — not just in targets set, but in results delivered.

Learn more about the IEA Initiative.