In an interview with the Financial Times published Sunday, our Executive Director Fatih Birol urged European countries to draw on lessons learned from past mistakes, including the region’s decades-long overreliance on Russian natural gas that meant it experienced some of the heaviest economic impacts from the recent energy crisis.

At the same time, Europe’s strong response to the recent crisis has successfully loosened the grip that Russia had over its energy sector, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Dr Birol wrote in a joint opinion article published Friday by Table Media.

Two years ago, one in five units of energy consumed in the European Union came from Russian fossil fuels. Today, it is one in twenty. With the cuts in Russian pipeline deliveries of gas, they note, LNG supplies have now become much more important for energy costs and energy security in the EU, even as it builds up a new clean energy economy.

And despite the world being set to move from a period of gas shortfalls to one where we could soon see an abundance – as a large wave of new export projects comes online in the next few years – Europe and other major economies can’t ignore their responsibility to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible, and to help other countries do the same.

Read their joint opinion article in full.    

At the meeting of ambassadors last week, high-level representatives from more than 20 African countries, representing 80% of the continent’s population, underscored the importance of turning 2024 into a crucial year for action on clean cooking.

The meeting – which included officials from 27 countries in all, with 14 ambassadors attending – took place ahead of the Summit on 14 May at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Summit will be co-chaired by President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway, our Executive Director Fatih Birol and African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina. (You can read the announcement of President Adesina becoming a co-chair here.)

The Summit aims to serve as a powerful catalyst for change by providing a global forum for fresh financing commitments, sharing effective policies and developing new partnerships. A lack of access to clean cooking affects more than 2 billion people around the world. In Africa, four in five people cook over open fires or on basic stoves, with severe impacts on health, gender equality and the environment. In Africa, it is the second leading cause of premature deaths among women and children.

Read more in our news article and our special report from last year, A Vision for Clean Cooking Access for All. You can also watch a recent video on the issues at stake here.

Dr Birol and Deputy Prime Minister Wong discussed energy markets as well as opportunities tied to accelerating clean energy transitions. They also spoke about the establishment of the IEA Regional Cooperation Centre in Singapore.

The Centre will work with all countries in Southeast Asia and beyond to enhance energy security and accelerate clean energy transitions. It will be the IEA’s first office outside of our Paris headquarters.

The event on 26 April – chaired by Dr Birol, with high-level speakers including Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo – will enable exchanges between policy makers, labour and business leaders, indigenous voices, civil society and youth representatives to foster global collaboration and collectively address the challenges of implementing and tracking people-centred clean energy transitions.

The Summit will highlight that putting people at the centre of clean energy transitions requires engaging citizens as active participants and designing policies to ensure fair distribution of benefits and costs. And it will dive into the sharp focus needed on jobs and skills to protect workers and communities and to maximise new opportunities in the clean energy sector.

The aim of the discussions is to build a collective understanding of what adopting a people-centred approach means – in line with G7 and G20 priorities and ahead of COP29 and COP30.

View the Summit agenda here – and follow the discussions live our website or via our YouTube, LinkedIn and X accounts.

People spend the vast majority of their time in buildings, from houses to offices, stores and schools. And while these buildings serve different purposes, they all have at least one thing in common: to keep the lights on, run heating and cooling systems, and use appliances and equipment, they require substantial amounts of energy. Buildings today account for about 30% of final energy consumption globally and more than half of final electricity demand.

The sector is growing rapidly, especially in developing economies. As more households get access to electricity and incomes rise, more people are buying appliances such as air conditioners – and as temperatures rise, they’re running them more often.

However, with a greater focus on well-tested energy efficiency policies, energy consumption from buildings could be significantly reduced, all while maintaining – or even improving – the quality of energy services delivered. This would not only lower the building sector’s emissions, but also save money for energy consumers.

Taking advantage of technologies that allow buildings to use energy more flexibly throughout the day could unlock even greater benefits. When buildings and grids can communicate with each other, strains during peak times can be reduced and peaks in energy demand can be smoothed out.

Read our commentary for more details on the opportunities – and challenges – of creating buildings that use energy more effectively.

He also visited Brussels, where he took part in a meeting on achieving energy and climate objectives at the European Parliament and sat down with leading figures including European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy Dan Jørgensen to discuss Europe's effective response to the energy crisis and its leadership role ahead of COP29.

Dr Birol also recently held a virtual meeting with Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy Andrés Camacho to discuss secure energy transitions. Last year, we published our first review of Colombia’s energy policies, which examined the country’s achievements in developing its energy sector as well as the challenges it faces in ensuring a sustainable energy future. You can read it here.

We recently hosted an energy efficiency training week in Nairobi, Kenya, which gathered almost 200 policy makers and energy professionals from across the continent. Our new video shows some of the highlights, while a second video explores the benefits of improving energy efficiency in Africa for energy security and clean energy transitions, featuring key insights from policy makers at the training event.

We recently published a report on natural gas in Korea that looked at the security of the country’s supply and provided high-level recommendations in light of the global energy crisis that began in 2022. Read the full report, developed in partnership with the Korea Energy Economics Institute.

17 April: Northwest European Hydrogen Monitor