EELA Zimbabwe - Accelerating Industrial Energy Efficiency in Zimbabwe

Over recent years, Zimbabwe has strengthened the foundations for industrial energy efficiency through a growing policy and regulatory framework, including national energy and climate strategies, the National Energy Efficiency Policy (NEEP 2025), and emerging energy efficiency regulations. Building on this enabling environment, the EELA Zimbabwe Country Window generated new evidence through industrial surveys, energy audits and market assessments, providing insights into the country's industrial energy use, technology opportunities and implementation challenges.

The evidence points to a significant opportunity. As industry remains a major consumer of energy and electricity, improving efficiency can strengthen industrial competitiveness, enhance energy security and reduce exposure to power quality and supply disruptions. Yet the findings also reveal that unlocking this potential requires more than technological upgrades. While many enterprises have begun engaging with energy management practices, gaps remain in data availability, monitoring systems, formal energy management approaches, project preparation and access to finance. Progress will therefore depend on strengthening the institutional, technical and market conditions that enable efficiency measures to move from recommendation to implementation.

This report synthesises the findings of the EELA Zimbabwe Country Window to identify where the highest-value opportunities for industrial energy efficiency can be found and how they can be translated into measurable results. It examines the structure of Zimbabwe's industrial energy system, highlighting the dual importance of motor-driven electrical systems and thermal processes, and explores opportunities across technologies such as motors, boilers, cooling systems and compressed air applications. The analysis also investigates the conditions needed to turn technical potential into sustained impact, from strengthening energy data and management systems to advancing standards, market surveillance, compliance mechanisms and investment pathways.

By connecting evidence from industrial facilities with policy, market and financing considerations, the report outlines practical approaches for transforming audits and technical assessments into coordinated actions that can support industrial productivity, reliability and long-term industrial transformation in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has the policy ambition and industrial demand to act.

The binding constraint is implementation: data, delivery capacity, finance and enforceable market rules.

Industrial energy efficiency is increasingly a question of competitiveness, reliability and implementation. Zimbabwe's industrial sector accounts for a substantial share of national energy consumption, while energy-intensive activities in mining and industry place significant demands on the electricity system. Improving efficiency offers an opportunity to reduce operating costs, strengthen productivity and make industrial operations more resilient to power supply challenges. At the same time, the country's energy profile highlights the need to address both electrical and thermal energy use, rather than focusing on electricity alone.

KEY FIGURES

26% of national final energy consumption came from industry (2023)

~60% of electricity consumption was attributed to mining and industry

47% of industrial final energy consumption was coal-based

0% of audited enterprises reported a formal Energy Management System

This EELA publication provides detailed analysis, sector-specific findings, policy recommendations and implementation pathways for accelerating industrial energy efficiency in Zimbabwe.

>>> The report is available at this link

Mr. Hilton Chingosho

National Project Coordinator, EELA Zimbabwe, UNIDO

h.chingosho@unido.org

Ms. Elin Karlsson

Industrial Development Expert, Project Manager EELA Country Windows

e.karlsson@unido.org