How the IEA Has Led Industry and Government Toward Clean Energy
By Justin Worland
Spend enough time in climate circles and you’ll almost certainly hear about the need to evolve international institutions to make them “fit for purpose.” The World Bank needs to galvanize more investment in climate solutions. The United Nations needs to bring countries to a joint solution to address global warming.?
Success has, so far, been pretty middling. One exception is the International Energy Agency (IEA). This week, the agency, which was founded amid the oil crises of the 1970s, celebrated its 50th anniversary—and there’s a lot to show for it, especially in recent years. The agency swiftly pulled together a plan for Europe to avoid blackouts—and political chaos—after Russia cut its gas supply to the continent. And the agency has shifted the zeitgeist on the energy transition, showing governments and businesses potential decarbonization pathways using data and research.?
At the heart of the agency’s success has been its charismatic executive director: Fatih Birol . When Birol took over the IEA in 2015, the agency had a reputation as a close friend of the oil-and-gas industry and not so much an agent of decarbonization. But Birol put climate at the center of the agenda, crafting a report in 2021 to show how the world could get to net zero. The data around different energy sources became a go-to for companies and governments looking for signals about how the global economy might wean itself off fossil fuels. “I don't think there's an organization right now that's as impactful at helping all of us transition into clean energy,” David Turk, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy who previously worked at the agency, told me in Paris this week. (Some in the oil and gas industry have taken issue with the numbers, complaining that they’re too optimistic).?
Another key change has been Birol’s focus on quickly publishing usable research in response to world events. The IEA’s 10-point plan for Europe to survive Russian gas cuts, published in March 2022, came together in a matter of weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for example. “Europe has not only made it through one winter but through two,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Feb. 14 in Paris at an event commemorating the agency’s founding, “first and foremost, thanks to you, Fatih Birol.”
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The IEA’s transformation is also of great significance to the private sector. For energy industry players and financiers, the agency’s numbers provide bankable data to drive investments. But the agency’s work is worth following even for businesses only tangentially related to energy for a simple reason: it shows how fast things are changing and illuminates investment opportunities that will reduce emissions and, potentially, generate returns.??
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I help managers in the resources, energy and utilities sectors implement complex, enterprise-wide change that dramatically increases profitability.
9 个月"But the agency’s work is worth following even for businesses only tangentially related to energy for a simple reason: it shows how fast things are changing and illuminates investment opportunities that will reduce emissions and, potentially, generate returns." Being agile in response to the changing world is going to be a defining feature of successful companies - no more chasing scale and then sitting back and watching the marginal profits roll in