The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s (ACEEE) 2014 rankings saw the UK displaced at the top by Germany.
Italy, China, France, and the EU as a whole made up the first five places, while Japan was tied in sixth place with the UK.
Since ACEEE’s previous ranking in 2012, the UK has dropped five places, and this is largely due to a poor performance in the energy efficiency of the industrial sector, where it came 12th.
The “international scorecard” assessed four different energy efficiency categories, including buildings, industry, transportation, and national effort.
The UK scored 18 (out of 25) for national effort, 14 for the energy efficiency of its buildings, 10 for industry, and 15 for transportation.
The study stated that “some policies and measures” have been implemented, but it said these efforts were hampered by the reduction of the schemes since 2012, and for the Green Deal being “less effective than expected”.
The report also stated that other European countries, notably Germany and Italy, “have implemented several policies to reduce the energy intensity of the industrial sector that may serve as model for UK policy development”.