Clean Energy Ministerial Secretariat finds home at IEA

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced that a new, multilateral Secretariat for the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) will be established at the IEA later this year. The CEM is a high-level forum of many of the world’s economies working together to accelerate the global transition to clean energy.

“The choice of the IEA as the home of the new CEM Secretariat is a ‘win-win’ for everyone involved,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “In November 2015, the IEA Ministers gave us a clear mandate to strengthen the clean-energy technology and innovation-related activities of the Agency and also to ‘open our doors’ to increase our engagement with major emerging economies. As such, I am delighted that the IEA’s 29 member countries have now accepted the proposal to transition the CEM Secretariat to the IEA.”

The decision follows CEM members selecting the IEA – from a short-list of other international organisations – as their preferred home for the CEM Secretariat at their recent Ministerial meeting in San Francisco on 1-2 June.

“Having the CEM Secretariat within the IEA will enable us to coordinate our efforts to accelerate clean energy technology and work even more closely with countries beyond our current membership,” stated Birol.  The CEM members that are not members of the IEA are: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Launched in 2010, the CEM combines the leadership of energy ministers and engagement from the private sector and other international partners with year-round initiatives and campaigns to drive faster deployment of clean energy policies and technologies worldwide.

Together, the 23 countries and the European Commission that are members of the CEM are estimated to represent about 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 90% of global clean energy investment. To date, the CEM Secretariat has been based at the United States Department of Energy, although the hosting of the annual ministerial meetings rotates among CEM member countries.

“We are looking forward to further building upon years of cooperation between the IEA and CEM on a wide range of initiatives across the clean energy spectrum,” said Birol. “The CEM’s extensive activities to support and promote energy technology, international collaboration and smart low-carbon policies form a perfect marriage with the work of the IEA and support our efforts to become a global hub for clean energy,” he added.

The CEM fosters ambitious, scaled-up collaborations and acts as a platform and incubator for exchanging good practices and innovative solutions to advance a broad range of clean energy activities that include improving energy efficiency, enhancing clean energy supply, supporting energy system transformation, and expanding clean energy access. There are strong synergies between the work of the CEM and the IEA’s network of over 6000 expert researchers that make up the IEA Technology Collaboration Programmes.