Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Target-setting agreements, also known as voluntary or negotiated agreements, have been used by a number of governments as a mechanism for promoting energy efficiency within the industrial sector. A recent survey of such target-setting agreement programs identified 23 energy efficiency or GHG emissions reduction voluntary agreement programs in 18 countries. International best practice related to target-setting agreement programs calls for establishment of a coordinated set of policies that provide strong economic incentives as well as technical and financial support to participating industries. The key program elements of a target-setting program are the target-setting process, identification of energy-saving technologies and measures using energy-energy efficiency guidebooks and benchmarking as well as by conducting energy-efficiency audits, development of an energy-savings action plan, development and implementation of energy management protocols, development of incentives and supporting policies, monitoring progress toward targets, and program evaluation. This report first provides a description of three key target-setting agreement programs and then describes international experience with the key program elements that comprise such programs using information from the three key target-setting programs as well as from other international programs related to industrial energy efficiency or GHG emissions reductions.