{"id":67460,"date":"2026-02-24T18:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=67460"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:31:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:01:00","slug":"india-join-iea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-02-2026\/india-join-iea","title":{"rendered":"India Seeks to Join IEA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Regional Groupings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The International Energy Agency (IEA)<\/strong> welcomed the progress being made on <strong>India\u2019s request<\/strong> for <strong>full membership of the organisation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The International Energy Agency (IEA)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Established:<\/strong> In 1974.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The IEA\u2019s founding members were<\/strong> Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, T\u00fcrkiye, United Kingdom, and the United States.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reason:<\/strong> It was created when major oil-exporting countries drastically reduced oil supplies, causing severe economic disruptions in industrialized nations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mandate: <\/strong>IEA\u2019s original mandate was to ensure that oil supplies were kept stable, and potential disruptions in future were anticipated and prevented through timely action.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It also developed an elaborate mechanism to deal with oil emergencies in future, making it mandatory for every member country to maintain certain minimum strategic stocks of oil.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Members: <\/strong>The membership was kept open only for OECD countries.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There are now 33 full members with Colombia being inducted as 33rd members recently.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Associate Members: <\/strong>In 2015, IEA opened the doors for non-OECD countries to become associate members.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The associate members participate in the policy discussions and activities, but do not have decision-making rights.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India became an associate member in 2017. There are 13 associate members right now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Organisation for Economic Co-operation &amp; Development (OECD)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The OECD is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes economic development, policy coordination, and global cooperation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Motto:<\/strong> \u201cBetter Policies for Better Lives.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Established in <strong>1961<\/strong>, succeeding the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Headquarters: <\/strong>Paris, France.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Membership: <\/strong>38 member countries (mainly developed economies). India is not a member.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Shift in the Role of IEA<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Expansion Beyond Oil Security: <\/strong>It has moved from a narrow focus on oil supply security to covering all major energy sources including gas, coal, nuclear and renewables.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate Change and Energy Transition: <\/strong>Decarbonisation, net-zero pathways and clean energy transitions have become central to its mandate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Critical Minerals Focus: <\/strong>The IEA has launched a Critical Minerals Programme to address supply chain risks linked to renewable energy and electric mobility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rise of Emerging Economies:<\/strong> The global energy landscape has shifted with emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil becoming major energy producers and consumers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Broader Global Representation: <\/strong>While IEA members once accounted for over 60% of global energy demand, their share declined to about 40% before expanding through associate members, and the broader IEA now represents nearly 80% of global energy demand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s quest for membership<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Bid for Full Membership: <\/strong>India formally submitted its request for full membership to the IEA in 2023 and has been actively pursuing this objective in recent years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Desire for Decision-Making Role: <\/strong>India seeks full membership primarily to participate in the IEA\u2019s decision-making processes, as the agency has become increasingly influential in shaping global energy policies, energy transition pathways, and climate-related strategies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>IEA as a Knowledge and Policy Platform: <\/strong>The IEA has evolved into a key global knowledge platform on clean energy technologies, energy transitions and climate change, and it maintains one of the most reliable and comprehensive global energy databases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Granting India full membership would require <strong>amendments to the IEA\u2019s founding framework,<\/strong> since membership has so far been limited to members of the OECD.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has shown no inclination to seek OECD membership, making changes to eligibility criteria or a legal amendment necessary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The IEA has strongly supported India\u2019s bid, recognising it as the world\u2019s most populous country and a future driver of global energy demand growth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>IEA\u2019s engagement with India has also increased significantly in recent years, engagement has deepened through India-focused reports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The International Energy Agency (IEA) welcomed the progress being made on India\u2019s request for full membership of the organisation. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> The International Energy Agency (IEA)\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Established: In 1974. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The IEA\u2019s founding members were Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, T\u00fcrkiye, United Kingdom, and the United States. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Reason: It was created when major oil-exporting countries drastically reduced oil supplies, causing severe economic disruptions in industrialized nations. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-02-2026\/india-join-iea \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67460"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67463,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67460\/revisions\/67463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}