SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This chapter explores the emergence of the existing global energy governance architecture, as the "overarching system of public and private institutions that are valid or active" in the energy field. It focuses on intergovernmental energy organizations that trace their origins to the post-World War II emergence of producers in what is called the "Global South," and the impact on oil-consuming advanced economies in the North of the former's clout in world politics of the 1970s. The chapter looks at the United Nations and the role of several of its constituent parts in governing energy. It examines the benefits and challenges of building a global energy governance architecture that is more integrated internally while at the same time better able to capitalize on overlaps and synergies with other global policy domains, especially those in climate change and international development. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the future of global energy governance, including the prospects for a World Energy Agency.