The world is facing an energy crisis and is searching for more sustainable energy sources. In this scenario, industries are confronting a major impact, as energy is an essential component of the production process. Besides the significance of energy use, the concept of energy management is diverse and not fully understood by organizations, often being confused with other energy-related topics, such as energy management systems and energy efficiency. To close this gap, the goal of this work is to analyze the definitions of energy management found in the literature and construct a universal definition that clarifies the theme, thereby helping companies gain a better understanding of the area. To achieve this goal, a systematic literature review adapted from the ProKnow-C method was executed, followed by a content analysis of the research papers. Three search databases were used (Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science), and in the end, 61 papers were analyzed to build the definition. As a result, it was possible to identify that energy management is widely applied across different industries; however, definitions vary and address topics such as profit maximization, cost reduction, demand fulfillment, air pollution reduction, and energy efficiency improvement. It was also identified that the definition of energy efficiency constitutes a major area of study and that the energy management concepts fall within it, serving as the planning required to achieve the energy efficiency goal. This work contributes to standardizing a concept in an area with many specifications and varying industrial contexts. Since it is a literature review, its research protocol poses a limitation, so for future work, it is recommended to expand the protocol and conduct surveys with industry experts to corroborate the findings.