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This volume describes more than 400 separate policy actions that IEA Member countries took to mitigate climate change in the energy sector during 1999. Listings are provided for each country with classifications of actions into five major policy approaches: fiscal policy; market policy; regulatory policy; R&D policy; and policy processes. In addition, policies are classified according to energy source and end-use.

This volume details more than 200 new policies and measures that were taken in the year 2000 to address energy-related emissions in IEA member countries. Actions are listed for each of the 26 IEA Member countries under five major headings: fiscal policy, tradable permits, regulatory instruments and voluntary approaches, R&D policy, and policy processes. In addition, policies are classified according to energy source and end-use. The volume’s introductory analysis puts current national activities into context. It provides an overview of current emissions and emissions-related policy trends, and also reviews other energy policy initiatives, including those in energy taxation, that have an effect on overall emissions and energy paths. The conclusion is that, while considerable action is being taken, more needs to be done.

In 2001 the 26 IEA Member countries took or planned over 200 energy-related policies and measures to tackle climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. This volume reviews the actions taken and describes them in detail. It shows how developed countries implement the commitments made under international agreements or at national level to reduce their emissions. The policies have been classified under six major headings: fiscal polices, tradable permits, regulatory instruments, voluntary agreements, R&D policies and policy processes. The introductory analysis provides an overview and assessment of recent policy trends.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Institute of Energy Economic, Japan (IEEJ) have developed and published long-term decarbonisation pathways for Southeast Asia and Indonesia. This report provides a comparison of modelling approaches, quantitative drivers, and results from the IEA and IEEJ pathways, highlighting areas of agreement, as well as identifying and explaining differences, and thereby to derive implications.

Accounting for nearly 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions and sometimes as much as 70% in large cities, buildings and construction are central to the low-carbon transition. Decarbonising buildings, especially the old stock, through energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy use, not only reduces carbon emissions, but also generates co-benefits in health, energy affordability and the labour market. Additionally, global mega-trends and the transition to a green recovery from COVID-19 provide impetus for stakeholders to take action. Cities and regions have a key role to play and can leverage prerogatives in regulation, public procurement and stakeholder engagement, while addressing multiple governance, capacity and funding gaps. To accelerate and scale up their action, cities and regions need to work with national governments to create an effective governance mechanism. Drawing on the findings of a dedicated survey of cities and regions of all sizes from both OECD and non-OECD countries, this report explains their significant role, explores sub-national policy measures, identifies key obstacles, and provides policy recommendations and a checklist for both national and subnational governments to drive the decarbonisation of buildings in cities and regions.

As behavioural insights (BI) become more widely used, countries are looking to expand the application of the methodology to new frontiers of policy making. This report tests behaviourally informed solutions to complex policy problems in the fields of competition, consumer protection, energy consumption and safety through a variety of theoretical and experimental approaches. The results give policy makers new ideas for tackling policy problems related to individual behaviour, as well as for changing the behaviour of organisations.

In spite of progress made to date and the significant long-term ambition announced by many countries, climate policy actions remain insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement objectives. While several international initiatives aim to track and monitor climate policies, there is not yet a “go to” place for a comprehensive inventory of policy actions and best practices worldwide. Such a platform would also ideally serve to compare policies’ effectiveness reflecting the diversity of country circumstances. Progress in this direction would help to promote an ambitious but globally more coherent and better-coordinated approach to emission reductions through a broad range of policies. This report lays out a roadmap for data and analytical work to support this aim, with a view to enhancing global dialogue and building trust on issues spanning climate change mitigation policies and their macro-economic repercussions. Key elements to strengthen the assessment and comparison of countries’ climate change mitigation policies across countries include: broadening and deepening the stocktaking of mitigation policies; extending and agreeing on an operational methodology for estimating the impact of these policies on emissions and on potential metrics to compare them; and assessing the broader economic effects of different climate policies.

Energy efficiency indicators are key to tracking energy efficiency progress for a variety of purposes (e.g. policy making, monitoring targets, making energy projections, developing scenarios and planning, and benchmarking). This guide is for professionals and decision makers, describing options and good practices for the collection of energy end-use data and the development of energy efficiency indicators at the national level. In parallel, it can also be used as an assessment tool, helping countries/economies to locate their starting point, and to identify appropriate targets according to their respective national interests and priorities.The roadmap presented here encompasses the results of a consultation exercise across countries and presents good practices and practical tips. It acknowledges that there is no single solution, but a number of possible pathways instead, depending on national contexts and priorities. The roadmap is a strategic document looking at the whole value chain in the development of efficiency indicators, from the initial point where the need for data and indicators arises up to the later dissemination and data use stages, and is meant to be a useful resource for practitioners across the globe in the development of energy efficiency indicators.

Deploying Renewables: Principles for Effective Policies examines the key factors that will determine the success of renewable energy policies and how current policies can be improved to encourage greater deployment of renewables. Responding to the Gleneagles G8 call for a clean and secure energy future, it highlights key policy tools to fast-track renewables into the mainstream. This analysis illustrates good practices by applying the combined metrics of effectiveness and efficiency to renewable energy policies in the electricity, heating and transport sectors. It highlights significant barriers to accelerating renewables penetration, and argues that the great potential of renewables can be exploited much more rapidly and to a much larger extent if good practices are adopted.

In the mining sector, government revenue depends on mineral products being priced and measured accurately. This can be especially complex for semi-processed minerals such as lithium, which is primarily used for battery production. The schedule presented in this report applies the mineral pricing framework – as documented in the joint OECD/IGF work Determining the Price of Minerals: A Transfer Pricing Framework – to identify the primary economic factors that influence the price of lithium in applying the Comparable Uncontrolled Price method and ensure that developing countries are able to tax lithium exports appropriately.

Driven by an increasing recognition of the many advantages of natural gas and by the need to diversify its coal-dominated energy supply, China’s natural gas industry is poised for rapid expansion. This study describes China’s gas market situation and examines the key issues facing its industry and policy makers. Drawing on the experiences and lessons from developed gas markets around the world and taking into account the specific circumstances of the Chinese gas market, it also offers a number of policy suggestions for the Chinese government to consider in its effort to boost the country’s natural gas industry.

The trading of natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region is dominated by long-term contracts in which the price of gas is indexed to that of oil. As the price of gas between Asia and other parts of the world has widened in recent years, observers have raised serious doubts about the sustainability of this pricing model. In this report, the IEA shows what it would take to create a functional, regional natural-gas trading hub in which prices reflect the local supply and demand fundamentals.
 
The report aims to provide stakeholders with insights on the changes that are required in the Asia-Pacific natural gas sector -- both downstream and upstream -- to allow a competitive natural gas price to emerge. Building on OECD Europe and OECD America experiences, this report sets out to assess perspectives for these changes in the Asia-Pacific natural gas markets. It identifies obstacles and opportunities for a competitive natural gas price in the Asian economies to emerge.

 

In its latest publication, Development of Competitive Gas Trading in Continental Europe, the IEA examines the history of major gas markets’ development in OECD Europe, and explores the possible expansion of trading through the mechanism of different hubs across the region. Lessons learned from North American markets on the benefits of regulatory convergence and investor-friendly legal framework are an important part of the analysis. Competitive trading based on transparent, non-discriminatory rules in a flexible and integrated European gas market will lead to more efficiency, timely investment, and greater market resilience, therefore ensuring more security for both customers and suppliers in the long term.

Direct air capture plays an important and growing role in net zero pathways. Capturing CO2 directly from the air and permanently storing it removes the CO2 from the atmosphere, providing a way to balance emissions that are difficult to avoid, including from long-distance transport and heavy industry, as well as offering a solution for legacy emissions. Air-captured CO2 can also be used as a climate-neutral feedstock for a range of products that require a source of carbon. In the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, direct air capture technologies capture more than 85 Mt of CO2 in 2030 and around 980 MtCO2 in 2050, requiring a large and accelerated scale-up from almost 0.01 MtCO2 today. Currently 18 direct air capture facilities are operating in Canada, Europe and the United States. The first large-scale direct air capture plant of up to 1 MtCO2/year is in advanced development and is expected to be operating in the United States by the mid-2020s. This report explores the growing momentum behind direct air capture, together with the opportunities and challenges for scaling up the deployment of direct air capture technologies consistent with net zero goals. It considers the current status of these technologies, their potential for cost reductions, their future energy needs, and the optimal locations for direct air capture facilities. Finally, the report identifies the key drivers for direct air capture investment and priorities for policy action.