Giving Compass' Take:

• A new study from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) reveals seven areas where the world is close to accomplishing key solutions in energy efficiency that could help reach UN Paris climate goals. 

• How can donors help play a role in pursuing energy efficiency goals?

• Learn about states' efforts to mitigate the challenges of climate change. 

A new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) identifies seven critical areas of the energy sector, "where solutions are within our reach, but not yet at hand," that will require intervention for the world to meet the United Nations Paris climate goal of limiting climate change to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Those challenges include reimagining urban environments, enhancing transparency surrounding emissions, and tripling the pace of energy efficiency improvements. Few nations are meeting their Paris targets, and the United States exited the agreement under President Trump's administration. RMI's report concludes top-down government policy actions will not move quickly enough and other actors must step up.

"Current models and efforts are not on track to meet the Paris commitments," RMI managing director Lena Hansen told Utility Dive. "Doubling down on what we're currently doing is not sufficient to solve the problem. What we need to do is together take a step back and think differently about the system. Rather than redirect it, how do we take it apart and put it back in a different way."

Instead of national governments driving the solution, RMI's report calls for "bold and decisive actions" on the part of citizens, corporations, philanthropic institutions, sub-national leaders, regulators, and policymakers.

The need for energy efficiency improvement is one of the more important challenges, said Hansen. "Tripling energy productivity is daunting to say the least, but we think it is what needs to happen," she said.

But while an all-hands approach to climate change is required, "governments are going, by necessity, to play a critical role," Neal Elliott, senior director of research for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, told Utility Dive.

Read the full article about energy efficiency goals by Robert Walton at SmartCitiesDive.