Trump officials pressure world’s top energy agency to drop climate mission

LONDON — Trump administration officials are attempting to block the world’s most important energy research agency from producing data that the U.S. government argues favors renewable power over fossil fuels.

At recent meetings of the International Energy Agency, U.S. officials pushed the body, which publishes influential energy market forecasts, to cease its work promoting the global shift to clean power and net-zero carbon emissions, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Tommy Joyce, a Trump supporter who is acting assistant secretary of international affairs at the U.S. Energy Department, has pushed for the organization to go “back to basics” during the closed meetings, said one of the people. 

Irked European officials pushed back against the U.S. pressure, defending the agency’s efforts on clean power research. 

“At the board meetings of the IEA … the U.S. have been really unconstructive,” said a European official not directly involved in the talks but who was briefed on their contents. That included discouraging any project “that is not about fossil fuels.” A second person also briefed on the meetings confirmed the account.

The IEA’s work is crucial for both clean energy advocates and American fossil fuel boosters, as the agency’s reports are considered the gold standard in global energy data, guiding major investments and government policies. 

The Trump administration’s IEA efforts are the latest salvo in its broader campaign to reshape the inner workings of government both domestically and, increasingly, internationally. This week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent placed similar pressure on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to drop climate support.

Tensions over the IEA are likely to flare even hotter on Thursday and Friday as Trump officials are in London for a two-day summit hosted by the agency. 

'Weaken or disable'

The European official described the U.S. attitude as “let's weaken or disable the IEA unless they're working on our values — which is the same approach that they've taken to every other international organization.”

A French official told reporters on Wednesday that “the Trump administration clearly expressed its desire for the IEA to distance itself from this agenda.” The officials were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations. 

In the meetings, European countries have backed the IEA’s clean energy research.

“Decarbonization is both an objective and a tool” of energy security, the French official said. “This corresponds to the French position, and we have no fear that the IEA will change its position.”

“It is for the rest of the OECD countries to make sure that they don't completely debilitate an organization which is the organ of record really on energy data and data for the transition,” the European official said, referencing the global trade-promoting Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

While slamming renewables, Joyce has pressed for cooperation on nuclear energy, geothermal and critical mineral supplies, said one of those briefed on the meetings.

The White House declined to comment. The U.S. Energy Department did not respond to an interview request.

In an emailed statement, the IEA said: “The IEA Secretariat’s current programme of work is based on the mandates from our Member countries, as agreed at our last Ministerial in February 2024. The IEA Secretariat will continue to take into account feedback from all 32 Member countries on their priorities for the Agency going forward.”

Headquartered in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the IEA was created following the 1973 oil crisis to act as a buffer against energy shocks. In 2019, after a sustained campaign by environmentalists, the agency shifted its focus to researching and actively supporting global efforts to avoid disastrous and extreme global warming.

That elevated the agency’s chief, Turkish energy expert Fatih Birol, to a role as one of the chief spokespeople for the green transition, supported by the agency’s formidable army of energy experts and modelers. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, a Brazilian official said the “International Energy Agency has been quite extraordinary in pointing directions and showing impressive statistics and tendencies that are influencing considerably the negotiation.”

'Eye of the storm'

This also made Birol a target of fossil fuel interests, especially in the U.S. With the second Trump administration far more intent on reorganizing the world’s institutions to reflect its version of American interests, Birol and the IEA are now “caught in the eye of a storm,” the European official said. 

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso — a powerful Republican from the coal state of Wyoming — has personally criticized Birol and is leading the charge to have the IEA ditch research that aids efforts to stop catastrophic climate change, given that such changes “are never going to happen,” he told reporters this winter. 

President Donald Trump has ordered a review of U.S. involvement in all international organizations due in August. That has put bodies like the IEA on notice, with Washington's withdrawal from the agency one possible outcome. U.S. funding has made up an average of 14 percent of the IEA’s annual budget over the past 10 years, according to the agency.

The “difference of opinion” between U.S. and European officials over the IEA is “a source of friction,” said Michael Bradshaw, a professor of global energy at Warwick Business School. It puts Birol in a difficult position, trapping him between the competing agendas of major IEA member countries. “There is a delicate balancing act here in terms of setting an agenda — and who is setting the agenda,” Bradshaw said.

In careful opening remarks at the London summit on Thursday, Birol avoided mentioning climate change and emphasized the necessary role of oil and gas as the world moved increasingly to clean energy. 

“Oil and gas are key parts of our energy mix, and they will remain as part of the energy mix for years to come,” he said. 

Republicans have expressed particular animus toward an IEA prediction last year that global oil use would peak this decade, which they claim has harmed energy investments. The U.S. is a significant IEA funder and a powerful voice on its board of directors — although European officials insist they will resist any effort to change the IEA’s mandate. 

The U.S. delegation to this week’s London energy summit will be led by Joyce, the Energy Department official. Joyce has also represented the administration at recent IEA meetings.

At the summit on Thursday, Joyce said climate policies create energy scarcity and “harm human lives.”

The U.S. is the world's largest producer of oil and gas. Trump accepted millions in campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry. 

Opportunity to rally

At the London summit, European officials and other backers of a tough response to climate change saw the opportunity to rally around the IEA and Birol and to present an alternative vision for a secure energy supply — one based on abundant, cheap renewable energy. This, they argue, is the cheapest and best approach to global energy and is backed by data from the IEA, among many others.

U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is close to Birol, a British official said. The U.K. minister lauded Birol on Thursday as the conference got underway.

“The IEA is so central to the global discussion on energy, and I want to thank you — and perhaps the audience could show our appreciation for Fatih and the work he has done,” Miliband said. 

The audience did. 

“The notion that energy security equals fossil fuels is just not true,” a senior United Nations official told reporters on Wednesday. “So while some might push this narrative, we know that it is not true. In most parts of the world, renewables — wind, solar and storage — are the least cost option for new power generation.”

At the London summit, Birol said there was one thing he regularly told his staff: “Data always wins.”

Zack Colman contributed reporting in Washington. Zia Weise contributed reporting in Brussels.