India has entered discussions to join the International Energy Agency (IEA) as a full member — a move that would recognize the world’s most populous country as a key player in tackling global energy and climate challenges.
If successful, India would become the first country from outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to join the highest ranks of the IEA. Its acceptance would formally recognize India’s role as an economic leader with tremendous potential as a buyer and seller of energy, a leading producer of renewable energy, and a model for other countries with emerging economies.
“India kind of has an outsized role in the global energy dialogue right now, being an energy demand giant. IEA needs India to be at their table,” said Mohua Mukherjee, an independent senior energy expert working at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
For the last half-century, full membership in the IEA — an intergovernmental organization that promotes energy security and the world’s transition to clean energy — has been limited to the 31 members of the OECD. These are mostly high-income countries situated in the West.
India will first have to be accepted as an accession country — a designation given to countries on the way to full membership. Currently, Chile, Colombia, Israel, Latvia, and Costa Rica are recognized as accession countries.
But India holds unique power as an emerging energy giant: it is poised to see the largest energy demand growth of any country because of its rapid progress toward industrialisation and urbanisation, combined with sharply rising per capita incomes.
“Having India as an advocate for the rights and the needs of energy consuming countries will be a good signal to have such a big player from the Global South as central to the energy conversations,” said Kaushik Deb, senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.
India’s participation is necessary.
The IEA was established in 1974 during an energy crisis that arose when Arab countries stopped selling oil to the West. Its original purpose was to promote the energy security of OECD countries.
Over time, the IEA mandate expanded to include analyzing global energy trends, advising member governments on transitions to sustainable energy and fostering multinational cooperation. In 2016, the IEA broadened its concept again to add climate change into its vision of energy security.
Over the last decade, the IEA has sought to engage key non-members in its activities — particularly large economies important to the global energy transition. These countries were given a designation as associate countries and include Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore and Morocco.
Today, the IEA’s 31 member countries and 13 associate countries represent 75% of global energy demand.
In recent years, IEA has realized that India is an energy giant, Mukherjee said. Without India’s participation in efforts to reduce emissions, the pathway to limiting global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius would not be possible, she adds.
India — which now, with 1.4 billion residents, has surpassed China as the world’s largest country by population — is undergoing a period of growing energy demand, urbanization and industrial growth, making it a key player in efforts to hit global climate change targets.
