IRENA at 10: Post Paris Transitions and Energy Diplomacy Beyond OPEC, the Energy Charter Treaty, and the Coronavirus

Abstract

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is the world’s most important institution that you have never heard of. More than 180 countries are actively engaged with IRENA to promote the growth of all types of green energy and to maximize the expansion of renewable technologies. IRENA has quietly worked to eliminate barriers to entry for Global South nations into renewable energy markets through advanced research, development, and deployment. This fledgling institution, which emerged as a brainchild of Global South energy architects in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Major, and Small Island States, has worked to democratize power production to enhance development outcomes. IRENA is silently toppling existing paradigms of what is possible in renewable energy outcomes. The IRENA stage provides a platform for ideas and the next generation of energy diplomacy — to rapidly build a future for renewable energy, to make the improbable . . . possible.

Keywords: IRENA, Energy Law, Energy Policy, Global South, Corona-virus