Energy is an indispensable productive factor and the way firms use it strongly affects their competitive capacity. For firms in a same sector, the lower their energy intensity, that is, the lower the amount of energy consumed per unit of GVA, the better their situation will be, with positive impacts in terms of the aggregate energy bill and in terms of compliance with environmental goals.

The ratio of energy expenditure in relation to GVA in firms is an approximate measure of their energy intensity. The differences recorded in the average ratio between sectors of activity reflect sectoral specificities and firms’s decisions. If we rank the NACE 2-digit sectors in descending order in terms of the average ratio of total energy expenditure to GVA in 2018, important differences can be observed between sectors, with ``land transport'' presenting a ratio of 78 percent, in contrast to ``employment activities'' and ``tobacco'' with average values below 5 percent. If the ranking is constructed based on the median ratio in the sector, the results are practically unchanged.

For more details see article “Energy mix and intensity in Portugal: Portraits from aggregate and firm-level data”, published in the Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, volume VIII - nº1.

Prepared by João Amador. The analyses, opinions and findings expressed above represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Banco de Portugal or the Eurosystem.

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