United States Joins the International Renewable
Energy Agency
EERE Network News - July 8, 2009
The United States officially joined the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) last week, increasing the number of countries participating
in the organization to 136. IRENA was initially founded on January 26 with
75 member nations, and its membership now includes most of Africa, the
Middle East, and Europe, as well as Australia, Greenland, India, Japan, and
parts of South America. The new agency will engage governments around the
world in promoting a rapid transition toward the widespread and sustainable
use of renewable energy on a global scale. The U.S. participation is an
important element of the Obama Administration's effort to support clean
energy technologies and the development of the low-carbon economies needed
to address climate change. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
said that the United States will work closely with other signatories,
IRENA's leadership, and members of Congress to ensure that the new agency's
work augments and complements other renewable energy efforts. U.S.
Ambassador Reno Harnish signed the IRENA statute at the second session of
the IRENA Preparatory Commission in Egypt.
At the IRENA meeting in Egypt, the member nations made a number of decisions
relating to the formation of the agency. The signatories designed Abu Dhabi,
the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as the location for the interim
headquarters of IRENA, while Bonn, Germany, will host IRENA's center for
technology and innovation and Vienna, Austria, will host a liaison office
for IRENA's cooperation with other organizations that are active in the
field of renewable energy. Abu Dhabi is the site of Masdar City, a
2.3-square-mile district that will aim to produce no waste and emit no
greenhouse gases, and that district will also host the IRENA interim
headquarters. The members also chose Ms. Hélène Pelosse as the first head of
the agency. Ms. Pelosse designed the renewable energy plan for France and
was involved in renewable energy negotiations with the European Union.
While the United States is becoming more involved in worldwide renewable
energy efforts, it is also expanding its international efforts closer to
home. Last week, DOE hosted the first U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue
Roundtable at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meeting brought
together clean energy leaders from private industry and from the U.S. and
Canadian governments to help decide how the two nations can work together to
develop clean energy technologies and combat climate change. President
Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper established the
U.S.-Canada Clean Energy Dialogue in February, with the specific goals of
expanding clean energy research and development; developing and deploying
clean energy technologies; and building a more efficient electricity grid.
Specific areas for further bilateral cooperation under the Clean Energy
Dialogue include renewable and energy efficiency technologies, carbon
capture and sequestration, and smart grid technologies.
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