"Significant recent changes in Italy's energy legislation provide the country with new opportunities to build on past successes", said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) today in Rome at the launch of Energy Policies of IEA Countries - Italy 2009 Review. He highlighted that over the past five years, the Italian government had gone a long way towards addressing some of Italy's considerable energy challenges thus strengthening the country's energy security. "The National Energy Strategy that will be developed as part of the implementation of the new law can provide Italy with a means by which a clear integrated long-term vision for the energy sector can emerge."

The IEA publication commends Italy for its continued progress in energy policy. It acknowledges that the country has succeeded in diversifying gas supply routes, at least in terms of pipeline gas, added significant amounts of electricity generating capacity, and is in the process of further diversifying fuels for electricity generation. All of these actions should lead to more secure energy supplies.

The International Energy Agency welcomes the Copenhagen Accord, which provides guidance on the next steps towards a legally-binding agreement on climate change. The Accord provides a clear environmental goal of limiting the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius. It calls for emissions to peak as early as possible as well as a collective commitment by developed countries to financially support developing country actions in mitigation and adaptation. It also lays out the foundation for support to developing country actions, over and above their unilateral actions. The IEA estimates that developing countries will need to invest around USD 200 billion annually by 2020 to move to a less carbon-intensive energy system. The USD 100 billion pledged by developed countries is a significant contribution towards that goal.

However, IEA calculations show that emission reduction pledges to date fall short of what is needed to limit the long-term concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million (ppm) of CO2-equivalent, in line with a 2 degrees Celsius increase. The IEA has produced a blueprint to reach the 450 ppm goal in the energy sector (see World Energy Outloook 2009), and in the first half of 2010 will assess the possible gap between countries' commitments and actions under the Copenhagen Accord and this goal.