The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a semi-autonomous organization under OECD umbrella. It was established in 1974 by 16 founding countries, among which Italy, after the first oil crisis. Currently, there are 30 of OECD’s 36 member countries who are part of it (Iceland, Israel, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia aren’t, while Chile’s accession process is ongoing). The European Commission also takes part in IEA works but without a right to vote.
Its four main fields of competence are energy security, economic development, environment awareness and engagement worldwide.
IEA goals are to monitor the global energy market (oil, gas, etc.); to operate an information and research system on energy dynamics at the international level; to ensure supplies of oil and oil-derived products in emergency situations; to foster cooperation between non-member producer and consumer countries; to assist governments towards sustainable and secure energy policies.
Recently, the IEA has launched the “Association”, a multilateral cooperation initiative open to key partner countries (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa), which has been joined so far by China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Singapore, Brazil and South Africa.
IEA’s most well-known publication is the “World Energy Outlook”, which each year analyses trends in the global energy market under different focuses and foresees middle and long-term scenarios. The “Energy Technology Perspectives” are another well-known publication; they focus on existing energy technologies, their development and potential contribution to climate change and energy security issues, and they present future prospects and strategies.
IEA’s decision body - the Governing Board - meets 3-4 times a year on average. Ministerial-level meetings take place every two years with the aim of defining the middle and long-term programme and strategic activities.
The last IEA Ministerial meeting was held in Paris on 7-8 November 2017.
