Improved industrial energy efficiency is a cornerstone in mitigating climate change. One of the foremost means to improve energy efficiency in industry is energy management. A pioneer European policy program including energy management system components was the Swedish PFE, a voluntary long-term agreement programme for improving energy efficiency in energy-intensive industries, which was under operation from 2004 to 2014.The aim of this paper is to analyse the results of the 2004-2014 PFE using an interdisciplinary approach combining experience from this program with academic concepts in the field of change management and investment decision-making. Results show how academic conceptual frameworks in the field of change management and investment behaviour in industry can explain PFE results and, more generally, support improved policy evaluation further explaining voluntary agreement programs such as the PFE. Finally, we formulate future research suggestions to improve industrial energy policy conception and evaluation.