Energy Information Has Never Mattered More—So It’s Time to Reform the IEA

In this handout image suppled by COP28, (L-R) Becky Anderson, Managing Editor of CNN Abu Dhabi, John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) are seen onstage at the Health Day Opening Session at Al Waha Theatre during the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP28 at Expo City Dubai, in Dubai, UAE, on Dec. 3, 2023. Mahmoud Khaled/COP28 via Getty Images

Commentary

The International Energy Agency (IEA) turns 50 this year. Doubtless there will be champagne-infused celebrations at its Paris headquarters. But on this side of the Atlantic, it’s past time for the United States, the biggest source of that agency’s funding, to rethink the IEA’s role. To be blunt, the United States should suspend payments to the IEA until it has been restructured in a fashion suitable for the times. There’s plenty of precedent for such an action, from both sides of the aisle.