The relationship between economic development and energy consumption has important policy and geopolitical implications intersecting with future energy demand, economic growth and climate change. All countries in the GCC share a common goal to transition to economies less reliant on oil and gas. As part of this transition diversification and energy efficiency strategies have become major strategic priorities. If successful, such policies are likely to significantly change the relationship between domestic energy consumption and GDP. To inform discussion on this topic, this paper assesses the relationship between energy consumption at a sector level and GDP in the GCC relative to a reference group of OECD countries. While there is variation within each grouping and across sectors, the clear result is that energy consumption and economic growth are strongly linked to all sectors in the GCC. This is in contrast to the OECD group where energy and GDP have decoupled. These results highlight both the scope for further improvement in energy efficiency and the need for deeper integration of energy-intensive industry and higher value-added activities and services. We suggest a greater focus on energy productivity—or how maximum value can be obtained from energy consumption—can help guide industrial policy and increase the profile of energy efficiency efforts across the GCC.

经济发展与能源消费之间的关系对于未来能源需求、经济增长和气候变化具有重要的政策和地缘政治影响。海湾合作委员会所有国家都有一个共同目标，即向减少对石油和天然气依赖的经济转型。作为这一转型的一部分，多元化和能源效率战略已成为主要战略重点。如果成功，此类政策可能会显着改变国内能源消费与GDP之间的关系。为了为该主题的讨论提供信息，本文相对于经合组织国家的参考组评估了海湾合作委员会部门层面的能源消耗与 GDP 之间的关系。尽管每个组别内部和各个部门之间存在差异，但明显的结果是能源消耗和经济增长与海湾合作委员会的所有部门密切相关。这与能源与国内生产总值脱钩的经合组织集团形成鲜明对比。这些结果凸显了能源效率进一步提高的空间，以及能源密集型产业和高附加值活动和服务更深层次整合的必要性。我们建议更加关注能源生产率，或者如何从能源消耗中获得最大价值，有助于指导产业政策并提高整个海湾合作委员会能源效率工作的知名度。