International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Co-operation

Mr. Dai Davies
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Co-operation (IPEEC) was launched; what resources the UK has committed in support of the IPEEC; where the IPEEC secretariat will be based; what plans he has to invite other prospective IPEEC partners to join; how the output of IPEEC will be disseminated; and what plans he has to report to Parliament on the work of the IPEEC.

Mr. Mike O'Brien
The International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Co-operation (IPEEC) was formally launched at the meeting of G8 Energy Ministers in Rome on 24 May 2009. IPEEC is intended as a high level forum to co-ordinate international action and facilitate the exchange of information in order to promote the development of effective policies and measures to promote energy efficiency globally.

The partnership will hold its first working level meetings later this year at which the detailed work programme and the indicative budget for the IPEEC will be determined. IPEEC's Terms of Reference provide for all resource contributions, whether in-kind or financial, to be made on a voluntary basis.

The Secretariat for the IPEEC will be hosted by the International Energy Agency and nationals of all the partner countries will be eligible to apply for posts within the Secretariat. The Secretariat will have an important role to play in disseminating the output from the IPEEC work programme through workshops, publications, electronic communication tools and input to wider international energy and climate change processes. We hope that IPEEC will quickly expand beyond its founding members (the G8, China, India, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and the European Commission). At the G8 Energy Ministers meeting the partners issued an open invitation for all interested countries to join IPEEC. We will report on progress when we report on our international energy strategy as part of the DECC Annual Report.