15 September 2009: The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a document entitled “Sectoral Approaches in Electricity: Building Bridges to a Safe Climate,” which elaborates how the international climate regime can support a transition towards a global low-carbon electricity system sectorally.

The publication provides an overview of the centrality of the electricity sector in combating climate change and policy options available to begin the process of transforming power generation, which leads into the main discussion of the report: the consideration of using the international carbon market to push sectoral changes in developing countries to prevent the carbon “lock-in” in their electricity generation. The pros and cons of this idea are discussed through case studies of China, India, Mexico and South Africa. [The report][Executive Summary]