There is no shortage of international organizations on energy policies, such as the International Energy Agency. But some countries still see a need to create a new body that focuses exclusively on renewable energy.

So officials from Germany and other countries met in Bonn, Germany today to launch the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which will set out to promote and coordinate renewable energy and climate change policies among industrialized and developing countries.

Spain, Denmark and Abu Dhabi are among the founding members who have signed the treaty to join the organization. About 80 countries are sending representatives to the meeting in Bonn. Plans to form the IRENA began in earnest last year, and participating countries also included Australia, India and Brazil.

The United States isn’t expected to sign the treaty to join the IRENA.

The meeting in Bonne will continue tomorrow, and decisions about IRENA’s headquarters and who should become the organization’s first director generation will take place in June this year.