From the oil crisis to the energy transition: the International Energy Agency turns 50

PARIS. Less oil and gas, more renewable energies: the upheaval in the market is also reflected in the International Energy Agency (IEA). The interest group is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary at a meeting in Paris.

The IEA was founded during the global oil crisis of 1973/1974 with the intention of being able to take coordinated measures to secure oil supplies in the event of renewed crises. At that time, western industrialized countries wanted to create a powerful institution to counter the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

That has changed: For the anniversary, IEA boss Fatih Birol has long been focusing on saying goodbye to fossil fuels and climate protection.

Birol insists on the industrialized countries joining forces with the Global South. Industrialized countries have been responsible for 60 percent of global CO2 emissions over the past 100 years, but only make up 15 percent of the world’s population. The North wears one “moral responsibility”said the IEA chief.

The interest group currently advises 31 governments, from Australia to Korea. If you want to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, you cannot afford a further increase in the use of fossil fuels. Birol: “Our scope for action is very limited today. We have to make decisions in the energy sector more radically and fundamentally than we did 20 or 30 years ago.”