This paper describes international experience with the use of Voluntary Agreements for increasing industrial sector energy-efficiency, drawing lessons learned regarding the essential elements of the more successful programs. The paper focuses on a pilot project for implementation of a Voluntary Agreement with two steel mills in Shandong Province that was developed through international collaboration with experts in China, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Designing the pilot project involved development of approaches for energy efficiency potential assessments for the steel mills, target-setting to establish the Voluntary Agreement energy-efficiency goals, preparing energy-efficiency plans for implementation of energy-saving technologies and measures, and monitoring and evaluating the project’s energy savings.