The International Energy Agency (IEA) does not need too many introductions, as to what it is. Though, no matter how widely known the organisation’s main focus of activity is, the complexity of its modern role and current positioning in the globalised system that has emerged is definitely an interesting subject. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to seat in a presentation of the IEA, given by the Executive Director and two other high ranked officials a few days ago.
IEA’s Executive Director, Maria van der Hoeven
A thing I found worthy of notice, was the clear intention and focus of the IEA’s Executive Director, Maria van der Hoeven, to move the agency forward in this new global context that arises in the energy sector. The fundamental changes of the global energy map, the new patterns that traders now follow, as well as the significant technology advancements, all required the IEA to become more proactive and seek actively the promotion of cooperation and integration among energy players.
The IEA
The International Energy Agency, is an autonomous agency established in November 1974. It had as its primary mandate to promote energy security amongst its member countries through the collective response to physical disruptions in oil supply and also to provide authoritative research and analysis on ways to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its members and beyond. The way IEA promotes this mandate is by carrying out a comprehensive programme of energy co-operation among its members, obliging each one to hold oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of its net imports. Moreover, to have a more accurate idea of the IEA’s aims, these are some main official objectives:
- Secure member countries’ access to reliable and ample supplies of all forms of energy; in particular, through maintaining effective emergency response capabilities in case of oil supply disruptions.
- Promote sustainable energy policies that spur economic growth and environmental protection in a global context – particularly in terms of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
- Improve transparency of international markets through collection and analysis of energy data.
- Support global collaboration on energy technology to secure future energy supplies and mitigate their environmental impact, including through improved energy efficiency and development & deployment of low-carbon technologies.
- Find solutions to global energy challenges through engagement and dialogue with non-member countries, industry, international organisations and other stakeholders.
At this day, 28 countries are members of IEA: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. It should be also noted that the European Commission also participates in the work of the IEA.
The effort to move ahead
The Executive Director of the IEA, Maria van der Hoeven, is now on her third year as head of the Agency and wishes to maintain it to the centre of international global energy policy. Thus, she recognises that the Agency needs to reach beyond its traditional membership.
IEA has become steadily with its quality of work, a global energy authority and wishes to maintain this “umbrella function” over energy issues on the future. But to achieve this, it has to shift and re-evaluate its positioning; when established, IEA represented the 2/3 of energy consumption globally, whereas now only declining 45%. A shift of focus that is seen also in OECD‘s figures, underlining that growth is nowadays found in different parts of the planet; and there is still a long way till the 1,2 billion people without access to energy are covered.
The way to reach out to these countries that are now the winners in growth rates and consequently require more energy has been presented by the Executive Director. IEA wishes to be the consultant and respected reference from long aim strategies to everyday decisions officials are making. This is why IEA under Maria van der Hoeven, is so actively promoting the “associate status”. Basically IEA seeks increased cooperation with countries outside its membership and through that, a two-ways approach and agreement that will bring countries from observers of the whole process to a higher status, that of “associate” making them engage and fulfil targets more eagerly.
IEA also started promoting the training of policy makers, officials, statisticians and others who are engaged in the processing and the communication of IEA and each country, in an effort to raise the level of expertise as well as to create a common know-how across the professional spectrum involved.
The new approach of its communication
But apart from these steps, the decision to “open up” must be communicated both internally and externally. That is why the Agency, is also transforming and evolving its communication towards new audiences. IEA relaunched its website, making it more appealing and more focused on the thing that seems to matter the most for its visitors, the energy related data. The data section of the website has now an incredible amount of data not only available, but also processed to be visualised through a well designed and rich in info adjustable infographic called “IEA Sankey Diagram“. The ability to operate the platform and use the entire database for research even for first time users is also a huge gain for the Agency as it can now attract new users and become an everyday working tool.
IEA’s effort to maximize the gains from communicating its research, have also turned to its published titles. The Agency incorporated new regions in its annual World Energy Outlook publication, researched and commented on new issues in others and generally tried to shift part of its focus towards those areas where significant changes are happening in the energy sector and that the IEA has no member countries.
Last but not least, following this general concept of trying to make the IEA an everyday key player for energy decision-making among officials and professionals, the Agency also launched a smart phone application making “hard to find data”, easily accessible from everywhere.
Final impressions
What I personally got out of that IEA presentation meeting, was that the Executive office, has set the objective to move the Agency forward. The Executive Director, gave me the impression that she believes the IEA can continue to be at the centre of international energy policy, by using the knowledge and expertise is has acquired over these years and repositioning itself, this time not among its members, but among its members and the rest of the world, becoming something like the logical liaison for all things related to energy.
The almost “pathological” focus of the IEA for accurate energy data is what feeds most of its credibility and appreciation amongst members and others, as well as the tool that will make IEA essential to policy making in the future. Personally I appreciated the fact that the type of work being done seems to be focused and re-evaluated to meet the highly volatile and shifting international energy sector. All in all, I feel fortunate to have participated in that meeting with the IEA, as I got the chance to see from the inside how an international organisation tries to evolve and adjust to future challenges.
The french paradox. While at the IEA we were introduced to the "french paradox" as said from an Agency's official. IEA from its establishment back in 1974, was based in Paris, France. The official working language for the Agency was not one but two, both french and english. But at that time, France was not so eager to engage in the organisation's activities, hence the use of french language faded out inside the Agency. Now, even though most of the employees speak french, they have not been actually reinstated as the working language...yet. IEA is based in Paris, France at 9, rue de la Fédération 75739 Paris Cedex 15.
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