Vision and mission
It is the Vision of the Global ESCO Network
- to be the global driver and inspire government actions for scaling up the contribution of ESCOs to the global response for mitigating the threat of climate change and the goals set out by the Paris Agreement
To realize this, it is the Mission of the Global ESCO Network
- to add to and reinforce existing efforts of National and Regional ESCO Associations to promote increased activities by the ESCO Sector at a global scale
Rationale for the establishment of a Global ESCO Network
Energy Service Companies – ESCOs – deploy a business model directly responding to the global climate change challenge. By directly using energy savings to pay for the cost of equipment and infrastructure that creates those savings, ESCOs challenge the mantra that emissions reduction activity comes at a cost that many, particularly in developing countries, are unable to carry. In the business of climate change, ESCOs deliver some of the best returns on investment, reducing energy consumption while combating excess GHG emissions as a significant co-benefit.
ESCOs are not always well recognized as an industry, nor entrenched in national policies. Nowhere has their full potential been unleashed and in many places they still struggle to find sufficient foothold. In some sectors and some countries, however, they are thriving, but rarely as a result of dedicated policies that promote the understanding of reduced energy expenses as an investable asset class, nor the techniques and requirements of successful and widespread Energy Performance Contracting.
In many countries, ESCO Associations work to promote the interests of their members for the establishment of business conditions commensurate with the immense economic and GHG mitigation potentials of energy efficiency, for countries and industries alike. These associations address similar challenges, but do so individually. While the associations do cover the most energy intensive economies, they remain a minority that may benefit from expanding the group of ESCO Associations in order to raise a global voice in global forums in support of Energy Performance Contracting.
The growing urgency of decisive responses to a rapidly changing climate, and the inherent ESCO promise of delivering profitable investments to the same effect, suggests a potentially prominent role of energy efficiency and, as its agents, the global ESCO community in the global climate change agenda, from the highest UN level to the grassroots. However, this is a role that the ESCO concept is yet to attain.
Therefore, the Global ESCO Network works to elevate issues and concepts related to ESCOs to the highest possible level on the international climate policy agenda.