Barriers and Drivers of Energy-Efficient Manufacturing: Evidence from Selected Energy-Intensive Industries in Ethiopia

Manufacturing industries in developing and sub-Saharan African countries consume substantial amounts of energy, yet studies consistently show that their energy use remains highly inefficient. Energy losses during transmission and inefficiencies at end-use stages pose significant challenges to energy security. Focusing on the later one, cost effective energy-efficiency measures are often not implemented due to persistent barriers. This study aims to identify the major barriers to and drivers of energy-efficient manufacturing in Ethiopia’s energy-intensive industries with the goal of supporting economic and environmental business sustainability. A three-lens theoretical framework economic, institutional and behavioral was applied to examine energy inefficiency beyond single-factor explanations. Focus group discussions using unstructured interviews were conducted across selected energy-intensive manufacturing industries to explore the barriers and drivers of energy efficiency adoption. The findings indicated that organizational barriers are the primary hurdles to energy-efficiency adoption. Managerial myopia, weak policy enforcement and high transaction costs were identified as the top three single-factor constraining hurdles. Conversely, applying the tripartite framework revealed that behavioral factors were the strongest drivers of energy-efficient manufacturing. Rising energy prices, the pursuit of energy cost reductions and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments emerged as the leading unifactor drivers promoting energy-efficient manufacturing cultures in Ethiopia’s manufacturing industries.