Effective Climate Change Mitigation: International Energy Agency (IEA) Renewable Energy Development in Developing Economies
Abstract
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has been mitigating climate change for many years. It has a wide variety of programs, alliances, and policies, engaging countries around the world to secure sustainable energy usage. Three programs designed to assist emerging economies in better implementation, usage, and understanding of renewable energy deserve closer attention. They focus specifically on improving the data collection system and introducing new tools and methods to analyze and process this data for future improvements. They are a step in the right direction, nevertheless, a unification of standards would increase effectiveness to the extent the current situation requires.
Urgency
Greta Thunberg says she wants the world to act as if our house was on fire because it is. This quote appeals literally to the climate change emergency that we are facing: the earth is getting hotter minute by minute, and if we ignore it, humans are dangerously close to reaching a point of no return. Ms. Thunberg’s words make clear how critical it is for us to take serious action. If we do not, we might end up without a house to live in.
The International Energy Agency (IEA)
The IEA is an international body that strives for secure and sustainable energy. It does so by working with members and associated members to develop projects in various areas of work, targeting fuel (and related technologies) from materials ranging from aluminium to cement, bioenergy, and wind. Helping ensure energy security, tracking clean energy transitions, collecting data, or providing training globally, is in a nutshell, what their projects and programs seek to accomplish.
The actions started during the oil crisis in 1973-1974, when developed countries needed a method to deal with the oil embargo set by OPEC producers. Since then, the IEA has acted in moments of global economic and political emergencies, providing the main international forum for energy cooperation on the security of supply, long-term policy, information transparency, energy efficiency, sustainability, research and development, technology collaboration, and international energy relations.
The IEA has acted in moments that can be counted on one hand: the first Gulf War; after the hurricanes Katrina and Rita; during the Libyan crisis; and after Russia invaded Ukraine. In addition to these emergency actions, it has continued working towards its Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario. Despite the valuable work being done, as described in other contributions to this package, there is still much to be done and the time is short.
The Significance of Energy
The energy sector accounts for 1/4 of global GHG emissions, according to COP 26 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Energy production and consumption must be improved through the swift and efficient transition to renewable energies. This is necessary to accelerate climate change mitigation to the extent required by 2030.
To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, we need to phase out coal as an energy source and move to clean power about five times faster than at present. Change is needed and efforts have shown what can be done. For instance, the IEA recognized that in 2020, renewable electricity generation rose ~7%; wind and solar PV technologies together account for almost 60% of this increase. This led to the share of renewables in global electricity generation reaching almost 29% in 2020, a record annual increase of two percentage points. This performance must be duplicated annually between now and 2030, which requires ambitious strategies.
Focus on Developing Economies
Currently, the goal is clear, but the playing field is not always level. Developing and emerging economies have been struggling to develop sustainable energy production and consumption due to a lack of know-how and resources.
One of the major COP26 outcomes was that the developed countries pledged to deliver on their promise to provide developing countries $100 billion annually for climate change mitigation and adaptation by 2023 at the latest. This corresponds with one of the seven functions of the UNFCCC. It expressly intends to direct new funds to climate change activities in developing countries.
The urgency of climate change mitigation is to no small extent a product of increasing GHG emissions and inadequate counter measures in many emerging economies. Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa together consume one-third of the world’s energy – expected to rise to 40% under current policy directions. At the same time, many of them continue bad practices, for example, deforestation in Brazil and a heavy reliance on coal in India.
Programs
The IEA also acknowledges this need for action with its global engagement initiative 3 programs that target the development of renewable energy management in developing countries. First, the Energy Efficiency in Emerging Economies (E4) program is associated with the Clean Energy Transitions Program, secondly the EU4Energy, and lastly the EnergySub-Saharan Africa.
The E4 program concentrates in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa and is financed by members of the EU. It establishes foundations for collaboration to understand the problem, set targets, track progress, and develop strategies. This is done with policy development, as well as training in person and online. Many programs, including this one, are connected to other projects so that they can be continued indefinitely. In this case, the adjacent program would be the Clean Energy Transitions Program that took over after 2018 and focuses on similar areas of work.
The EU4Energy program works with eleven countries in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia with two main goals in mind: (1) to improve energy data collection and monitoring, as well as (2) to provide technical assistance on the legislative and regulatory frameworks and on key energy infrastructure investments. It targets problems such as lack of legal basis and technical expertise to initiate and continue long-term action.
Lastly, EnergySub-Saharan Africa targets mainly Ethiopia, Senegal, and Benin, but Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. This project, similarly to the above, focuses on reinforcement of technical support, development of IT and energy modelling tools, as well as improvement of the tracking system of NDCs and SDGs.
IEA Impact on Climate Change Mitigation in Emerging Economies
As described, the IEA is carrying out valuable work in these areas for the optimization, management, and development of energy use. This is aligned with international organization goals, foremost among them the UNFCCC. Nevertheless, not every aspect or goal is aligned with pledges such as the Paris Agreement or the European Green Deal. More coordination is required.
Proposals for IEA Collaboration
There are 3 proposals. The first addresses the limited number of IEA members. It is a requisite to be a part of the OECD, which only leaves 38 countries, of which 31 are a part of the IEA, plus 10 associated members. Meanwhile, the Paris Agreement was signed by 193 parties, even more as the EU was considered an individual party. Perhaps a broader IEA inclusion policy, including more liberal associate member status, would enable more countries to work towards the same goal and profit from IEA research.
The parties leading the way toward change also have slightly different objectives. We all know we must limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees and that GHG emissions need to be reduced. Nevertheless, the IEA has a goal of reaching net-zero in 2050 while other bodies strive to do so earlier. Some criticize the less ambitious IEA goal. If more ambitious goal standardization could be established, resources could be better allocated and used to reach the shared goal faster.
COP and PAICC could be influential in this endeavor. They could expand their current collaboration with UN entities to include external entities like the IEA. They ought to use their resources and abundant research material as the basis for establishing new objectives and key results. The COP outcomes and the UNFCCC functions can be aligned and expanded based on IEA , as well as other agency projects. This could enable developing and emerging countries to accelerate their climate change mitigation and do so more efficiently.
The only way in which the world can achieve the required change is if we all work together, and it is possible. It just requires unification and will. We need to act now to stop our house from burning. Joining forces is a path to ignite more rapid action toward climate change mitigation.
Works Cited
IEA. International Energy Agency. https://www.iea.org/analysis. May 18 2022.
UKCOP26. UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE UK 2021. https://ukcop26.org/ May 19 2022.
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