The United States has intensified its stance toward the International Energy Agency, signaling that continued membership is not guaranteed unless the agency returns to its original purpose of protecting global energy security.
According to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Washington believes the Paris-based agency has strayed from practical energy planning. He argues that the IEA’s forecasts are increasingly driven by climate ideology rather than real-world energy needs, and insists that the agency must once again prioritize reliable energy access and realistic clean cooking solutions.
African governments and private-sector leaders have long voiced similar concerns. They argue that the IEA’s evolution from a technical energy body into a politically charged institution has helped justify restrictions on oil and gas financing. The African Energy Chamber maintains that this shift has directly harmed African economies, discouraging investment in hydrocarbons and slowing progress in addressing energy poverty. While the IEA now appears to be reassessing its position, it remains unclear whether this reflects meaningful reform or a response to growing international pressure.
Over the past several years, the IEA’s outlooks have increasingly opposed oil and gas development, undermining Africa’s development goals. Its net-zero roadmap—first released in 2021 and updated in 2025—has been widely used by banks and multilateral lenders to justify withdrawing capital from Africa’s energy sector. The roadmap calls for halting new fossil fuel investments after 2021, ending fossil-fuel heating systems by 2025, and phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 in favor of electric alternatives.
These prescriptions are based on assumptions that do not reflect African realities. They presume universal access to electricity and clean cooking by 2030, even though hundreds of millions of Africans remain without either. Achieving this transformation within such a short timeframe is unrealistic.
The roadmap also assumes massive growth in renewable energy investment—multiplying current levels several times over—and seamless global policy coordination. Yet Western nations that champion this agenda have invested very little in Africa’s renewable sector. Even multinational oil companies that publicly support the IEA’s messaging have delivered few renewable projects on the continent.
Industry groups such as OPEC have warned that without substantial technical and financial assistance, developing countries cannot realistically achieve net-zero targets. The lack of genuine international cooperation risks undermining both climate goals and development priorities.
In practice, the IEA’s roadmap has contributed to widespread withdrawal of financing from oil and gas. Major banks have exited the sector entirely or imposed strict limitations, while institutions like the World Bank have ended direct upstream investments. As African countries attempt to monetize strategic gas resources, the IEA has emerged as a powerful institutional barrier.
NJ Ayuk of the African Energy Chamber argues that African energy projects are being unfairly judged. He maintains that banks should assess African oil and gas investments on their merits, as they do in developed countries, and warns that discriminatory financing practices amount to financial apartheid.
The issue of clean cooking highlights the stakes. More than 900 million Africans still rely on polluting cooking fuels, making energy security a humanitarian and economic priority. Following the IEA’s guidance would effectively block the investments needed to solve this problem and jeopardize major gas projects that could support both Africa and global energy markets.
At the IEA’s 2026 ministerial meeting, Secretary Wright emphasized that relatively modest annual investment could dramatically expand clean cooking access worldwide. He criticized the current allocation of climate spending, noting that trillions of dollars have produced limited gains outside wealthy nations.
Additional criticism has come from U.S. lawmakers, who argue that the IEA promotes unrealistic development models for emerging economies by focusing exclusively on renewable-only scenarios. This approach departs from the agency’s founding mandate, established after the 1970s oil crisis to ensure stable and affordable energy supplies.
Despite these criticisms, recent moves suggest potential progress. The IEA’s decision to integrate the Clean Cooking Alliance into its work and the launch of new U.S.-backed clean cooking initiatives focused on Africa represent positive steps. However, African stakeholders stress that meaningful reform requires deeper change.
According to the African Energy Chamber, true reform means acknowledging Africa’s unique development path, ending blanket bans on energy investment, and recognizing that African oil and gas can coexist with global climate objectives. The message from African leaders is clear: the continent does not seek aid, but equal partnerships that enable sustainable development and energy access.
