Since President Obama’s announcement of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) on June 25, 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) has moved forward to lead initiatives and support interagency efforts that cut carbon pollution, augment resilience and preparedness in the face of climate impacts, and strengthen international partnerships addressing the issue. This effort involves activities all across the Department, including actions led by the Office of International Affairs.

IA seeks to strengthen existing international fora and initiatives such as the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM). The CEM draws together energy ministers from countries with a critical stake in addressing global emissions. The CEM platform focuses on collaboration on clean energy solutions and policies. The seventh Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM7) was held in San Francisco, California on 1-2 June 2016. It brought together delegates from 24 participating countries and the European Commission, as well as private sector and non-governmental leaders, to make commitments to implement clean energy actions, assess progress,  and guide work under transformative clean energy initiatives and high-impact campaigns. 

The Office of International Affairs (IA) also coordinates DOE participation in the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA)—a key multilateral mechanism to advance clean energy deployment and reduce the climate change impacts of energy technologies in the Western Hemisphere.

The Department will also continue its collaboration with international partners on clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration research, development and deployment through the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and other bilateral and multilateral initiatives.