The IESG is composed of scientists active on the world forum in the areas of energy, forestry, and climate research. They work to inform governments and international institutions on energy-related issues to help them formulate energy and environmental policies and to facilitate the diffusion of energy-efficient and environmentally benign technology.

Some current and recent projects include

• mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector,
• assessment of historical trends and development of future scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions,
• international benchmarking of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions,
• analysis of energy-efficiency potentials in the energy-intensive industries.
• development of new methods and analytical tools for evaluation of project baselines,
• the role of carbon sinks in climate change mitigation,
• sustainable development and transport policy.
• energy and CO2 emissions accounting methodologies,
• energy savings opportunities in the industrial sector,
• state and local climate change initiatives.
• Development of an energy balance for the State of California and calculation of the resulting CO2 emissions.
• Development of a historical decomposition of energy use in California,
• an IPCC disaggregating global energy use forecasts into end-use scenarios for different regions of the world.