The International Energy Agency (IEA) released its annual World Energy Outlook report on Wednesday. Among the key conclusions are that global electricity demand will double in the coming decades — with a 6% increase in demand forecasted.
The IEA is an international organization that has provided industrialized governments with research and data to guide their energy policies for over five decades. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol argued in a statement released with the new report that the current slump in oil prices provides an opening for governments to adopt more sustainable energy policies.
“The breathing space from fuel price pressures can provide policymakers with room to focus on stepping up investments in clean energy transitions and removing inefficient fossil fuel subsidies,” Birol said, adding: “This means government policies and consumer choices will have huge consequences for the future of the energy sector and for tackling climate change.”
These projections arrive at a time when the IEA is facing a potential leadership change that would alter the course of the agency’s policy goals.
Mario Loyola, a former Trump environmental advisor, said in an interview in Le Monde on Monday that “The U.S. should definitely come up with a strategy to replace the leadership at the IEA.” According to Loyola, if former President Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election next month, a shakeup at the IEA will be an early priority.
Reuters reported in May that advisors to Trump would use the clout of the U.S. within the IEA to replace the current leadership at the organization with a new, pro-fossil fuel director if Trump wins back the White House in November. The U.S. provides around 25% of the Paris-based group’s funding.
Plans to push for leadership change at IEA come from policy advocates at the Heritage Foundation, Reuters reported. The DC-based foundation, which drafted a policy blueprint for a new Trump administration and is in regular contact with the former president’s campaign, recently released a report arguing that global warming will have a negligible impact on U.S. ecosystems and making the case for expanding the use of fossil fuels.
The IEA was created by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in response to the oil crisis in the 1970s. The Biden administration has worked closely with the agency as it attempts to coordinate clean energy policies among its 31 member nations.
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