IEA Contributions to the G20 in 2024

To support sustainable, affordable and secure global energy transitions, the IEA worked in close partnership with Brazil's G20 Presidency in 2024. The Agency is contributing to two new horizontal taskforces, the Global Bioeconomy Initiative and the Taskforce for Global Mobilisation against Climate Change, and to five working groups in the Sherpa Track and Finance Track: the Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group, the Energy Transitions Working Group, the Framework Working Group, the Sustainable Finance Working Group and the new Research and Innovation Working Group.

The IEA provides a combination of briefings, presentations, papers and reports, as well as broader engagement in related side events, thus creating strong synergies on the priorities of clean energy finance/investment, just and inclusive transitions and sustainable fuels.

The IEA has a strong bilateral partnership with the Government of Brazil and has supported the development of the National Energy Transition Policy, presented by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in August 2024, the Future of Fuel Program, and the IEA-Brazil collaboration on inclusive transitions, with Alexandre Silveira, Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy serving as co-chair of the Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions.

As a long-time partner of the G20, and G7, UN Climate Change, the Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation, the IEA seeks to support synergies between the fora to advance energy-related climate action, notably through the COP Presidencies Troika and “Roadmap to Mission 1.5˚C”. The IEA is the only international organisation focused on energy to be invited to the Taskforce on Global Mobilisation against Climate Change. The Agency is contributing analysis and advice on clean energy investment trends and, in support of the next round of nationally determined contributions, analysis on energy-sector milestones necessary in 2035 for reaching net zero emissions globally by 2050. In September 2024, the IEA published a report on progress toward COP28 energy goals, From Taking Stock to Taking Action, to accelerate and support implementation of the objectives laid out in Article 28 of the UAE Global Stocktake.

Leaders of the G20 met in Rio de Janeiro on 18-19 November to address major global challenges and promote sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The G20 Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration called for further action to promote sustainable development, climate action, energy transitions and sustainable finance. Notably, the G20 Leaders explicitly called for action on clean cooking, lifting structural barriers to sustainable finance and reliable, diversified, sustainable and responsible supply chains for energy transitions, including for critical minerals and materials.

The Agency’s core engagement is its support for the Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG). Building upon and expanding its partnership with the Government of Brazil, the IEA worked with the Ministry of Mines and Energy in ETWG meetings throughout 2024 to develop strategic outcomes for the G20 Energy Ministerial meeting in Foz do Iguaçu in October 2024.

Under the ETWG, the IEA was a knowledge partner for the group's three key priorities and contributed widely to the high-level dialogues and discussions, notably on fuels for the future (biofuels, hydrogen), accelerating clean energy investment in emerging markets and economies, and the social dimension of energy transitions. Notably:

• The IEA acted as a lead partner to develop key G20 deliverables such as the Clean Energy Investment Roadmap and Action Plan and the Clean Cooking Roadmap, the latter jointly with ESMAP/World Bank and SEforALL.
• The IEA is co-convening high-level ministerial events on sustainable fuels, people-centred clean energy transitions, clean cooking and COP29 energy transitions in Foz do Iguacu at the G20 Energy Transitions Ministerial Meeting (4 October).
• The IEA produced two report on harmonising standards and definitions for sustainable fuels: Carbon Accounting for Sustainable Biofuels, which maps the use of accounting of biofuel carbon intensity across countries and global sectors, and Towards Common Definitions for Sustainable Fuels, which explores the feasibility and implications of setting up common criteria to enable fair comparisons of sustainable fuels.

Beyond the ETWG, the IEA was invited to be a lead partner of the Brazil Presidency’s new G20 Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG).

The Agency has advised on priorities for open innovation and for decarbonization of the economy, including energy transitions. At the Research and Innovation Ministerial in Manaus in September 2024 the IEA presented: Tracking Clean Energy Innovation Policies, a guide to help decision-makers and analysts identify examples of policies that could be translated to new country contexts and provide a basis for international exchange and co-operation.

The IEA also provides analysis of climate resilience and climate-related financial risks by country to the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Group. The Agency is as partner of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in the area of disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure, and joined those organisations in a G20 webinar on Disaster & Climate Resilient Infrastructure in June 2024.

The IEA was invited by the Ministry of Finance of Brazil and the G20 co-chairs, the United Kingdom’s Treasury and India’s Ministry of Finance, to contribute to the deliberations of the G20 Framework Working Group. The Agency briefed the Group on the impact of the energy transition on the macroeconomic outlook and the global state of clean energy investment flows and needs. In 2024, the G20 Framework Working Group requested the IEA to produce a brief on strategies for affordable and inclusive energy transitions as G20 members focus on the distributional impacts of climate crisis and the transition. The IEA report Strategies for Affordable and Fair Clean Energy Transitions  has provided insights into the discussions of priority of macroeconomic and distributional impacts of climate change and transition policies and recommendations to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in October 2024.

The IEA participates in the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) on aspects of investment and finance, such as de-risking of energy investment and solutions for lowering the cost of capital in emerging and developing economies. The IEA participated in a SFWG workshop on local currency financing and a SFWG workshop on carbon markets. 

Today, a staggering 2.1 billion people across the globe lack access to clean cooking solutions to meet their daily cooking needs. Despite recent advancements in energy access, the rate of progress lags, jeopardizing the health of millions of households reliant on traditional, polluting cooking methods and hindering the energy transition

Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement requires a massive scale up in clean energy investments, reaching USD 5 trillion globally by 2035. The largest increase will need to come from developing economies other than China, where investments need to rise more than sixfold to reach USD 1.8 trillion in 2035, from USD 280 billion in 2023. The funding requirements go beyond the capacity of public financing alone and would demand an unprecedented mobilisation of private capital.

Achieving the global commitments will only be possible if a collective effort is made to boost clean energy investments in developing countries over the next decade. The roadmap sets out timebound actions for scaling up private finance for clean energy investments across different regions and sectors, needed to build modern, clean energy systems for suppliers and users, including achieving universal access