A Place in the Sun? IRENA’s Position in the Global Energy Governance Landscape

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), created in 2009, is the only intergovernmental organization dedicated to renewable energy. This article draws on several new datasets to compare IRENA with three other major international energy organizations: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC). The article compares the resources available to the organizations and whether states refer to them in their policy-making. One of the datasets used is a collection of 639 government energy policy documents from 16 countries, introducing an element of data mining to the analysis. The study finds that IRENA’s niche in international renewable energy governance is not yet fully carved out, but that the organization’s mandate and institutional structure, as well as recent international developments, indicate that it may grow rapidly in importance. Through this analysis, a system is developed for the basic comparative assessment of international energy organizations that may be reapplied to these or other types of international organizations in the future.