The recent acceleration in global energy efficiency gains risks slowing down if governments do not maintain their focus on implementing new efficiency policies, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. Global energy intensity – the energy used per unit of gross domestic product – fell by 1.8% in 2016, a sign the global economy generated more value from its energy, according to the IEA’s Energy Efficiency 2017 report. Improvement seen in 2016 confirms the strong progress seen since the start of the decade. But this progress masks some concerning policy trends. While efficiency codes and standards grew to cover about 32% of global energy use in 2016, nearly all of the increase in coverage came from existing policies and over two-thirds of global energy use is still not covered. The IEA’s Efficiency Policy Progress Index also reveals that the strength of policies increased at their slowest rate in recent years and rates of progress vary significantly across countries.