Survey Reveals Investments in Sustainability have Rebounded to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Johnson Controls has released findings from its 15th annual Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey. The findings revealed 62% of organizations surveyed expect to increase investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy or smart building technology in 2022, indicating a return to pre-pandemic levels. The latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change advised that global scale transformation is urgently needed to combat climate change, however, the Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey found organizations are still facing challenges to accelerate their sustainability efforts in key areas. Almost two-thirds of survey respondents say they struggle to scale sustainability initiatives across buildings, geographies, or business units.

Global progress has accelerated in last five years
The survey revealed that planned investment in energy generation or storage has grown significantly over five years, likely in response to the global focus on decarbonization, and as part of that effort, electrification.
More than a third of respondents plan to replace fossil fuel heating equipment with heat pump technology in the next year, which is 7% more than what was implemented in the year prior. Notably, thermal energy storage jumped from 27% to 42% in the last five years. More than half of respondents implemented electric energy storage in the past year.

Barriers to scaling sustainability efforts
Although global scale transformation is necessary to course-correct on climate change, organizations are facing barriers to pursuing sustainability initiatives. Almost half of the respondents surveyed say their top barrier to pursue energy and building technology improvements is either a lack of funding to pay for improvements (25%) or uncertainty in their return-on-investment (23% ).

Additionally, more than half of respondents pointed to a lack of technology as one of the hindrances to scaling sustainability efforts.

Organizations focused on harnessing technology to keep building occupants healthy and safe
The pandemic has also prompted organizations to rethink their technology investment decision-making. Protecting the health and safety of building occupants during the coronavirus pandemic was the second most significant driver of investments globally.

Additionally, 65% of respondents performed an indoor air quality assessment last year. The survey revealed that actionable policies are also important for progressing energy-efficiency goals. 85% and 72% of respondents, respectively, reported that performance benchmarking/certifications and performance standards for energy codes are critical to improving energy-efficiency efforts.

The Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey collected responses from a 1,000 participants globally between November and December 2021.

To learn more, visit: https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/2021EEI.