IEA Identifies Examples of Good Practice in Energy Policies

The International Energy Agency (IEA) today published “Energy Policies of IEA Countries – 2005 Review” – the latest edition of the annual compendium. This year, for the first time, the review also focuses on successfully implemented energy policies so that member countries can learn from other countries’ positive experience as a source of inspiration for their own policy development. The new chapter “Cross-Country Overview – Good Practices” presents good practices in addressing common energy policy challenges from the in-depth reviews carried out over the past four years, covering all 26 countries. Over a hundred examples are brought together in the field of general energy policy, energy and environment, energy efficiency, renewables, energy market reform, security of supply, nuclear and energy R&D. This meets one of the most crucial objectives of the country studies, namely, sharing of good practices among member countries, which was also highlighted in the 2005 IEA Ministerial Meeting. It is actually one major task the leaders of the G8 at their summit in Gleneagles in July 2005 asked the IEA to implement.

The year 2004-2005 can be characterized by important energy policy challenges, including high energy prices, volatile energy markets, an activation of the IEA’s coordinated stock draw after Hurricane Katrina and coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol. “Energy Policies of IEA Countries – 2005 Review” reviews these trends and contains a chapter on “2005 IEA Ministerial Meeting and G8 Gleneagles Summit”, where energy security, climate change and clean energy future were intensively addressed.

Furthermore, this book features major trends in energy markets and highlights key policy trends across member countries on energy security, energy market reform, climate change mitigation, energy efficiency, renewable energies and energy R&D. Notable developments in major non-member countries such as China, Russia, India, South East Asia, Latin America, Middle East are also presented, including major findings of the World Energy Outlook 2005 – Middle East and North Africa Insights.

Reviewing the energy policies of member countries is a central activity of the IEA and each
member country is reviewed in depth every four or five years. Summaries of the most recent Country Reviews (conducted from October 2004 to June 2005) include Australia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain and Turkey. Shorter standard reviews cover six other Member Countries: Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Switzerland.