The New Urgency of the Global Energy Agenda

Reaching consensus on how to tackle energy security remains a major challenge. My fellow countryman U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon captured it aptly when he identified energy as the “golden thread” connecting all of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals.

But to weave its magic, that golden thread must bind together the interests of both producers and consumers of energy.  And it must include developed and developing countries if we are to reach practical and sustainable solutions to today’s global challenges.  The Energy Trilemma – the three most critical energy challenges facing the world today – and the framework within which we map out potential responses, will form a core part of the agenda at this year’s World Energy Congress.  We are currently finalising themes and key speakers for Congress, which takes place this October in Daegu, Korea.  It will be a unique forum for producers, developers, explorers, generators, distributors and consumers of all types of energy to work together to tackle these three complex, interconnected issues:

― Energy security.  Secure energy enables economic and social development. It gives populations the means to communicate, work, travel and live.  It means that suppliers can deliver energy securely and buyers can obtain resources at a reasonable cost. At its most acute, as history and numerous contemporary examples show, geopolitical tensions rise when energy sources are in doubt or opaque.  Instilling a more security-conscious energy mindset will help to alleviate potential risks.

― Social equity. The stark truth is that 1.3 billion people do not have access to modern energy supplies.  This is unsustainable and will only be addressed, especially in developing markets, if chronic underinvestment is reversed and affordable, secure energy is delivered into under-provisioned communities.

― Environmental preservation. The solutions we agree upon have to play their part in protecting our climate and environment. Energy efficiency and alternative low-carbon energy technologies need to be demonstrated and implemented.  Improved global governance on energy safety, including nuclear and deep-water drilling, is essential. 

There are enough global energy resources to fuel economic growth. Existing hydrocarbon resources could support current rates of consumption for another two centuries and with new and more expansive discoveries of unconventional assets, their longevity is set to grow further still.  But they are distributed unevenly across the globe, are carbon-emitting and are becoming more expensive and difficult to access. 

In contrast, new low-carbon energy systems based on renewable sources can be exploited in many countries. But, many technologies remain under-tested and others may prove too expensive for widespread use in some markets.  Therefore, it is difficult to ensure sustainability of supply, thus limiting energy access as a result.

Despite the ongoing inconsistency in its popularity, it is becoming clear that nuclear power will also have to continue play a central role in solving the Energy Trilemma. The future of nuclear energy can be secured as long as the safety and transparency of the nuclear industry is continuously reinforced. Public acceptance of nuclear power will be achieved if an efficient system of governance for nuclear safety is put in place that is internationally credible.

Finding these solutions, of course, is easier said than done.  Addressing the Energy Trilemma requires long-term vision, well defined milestones, and proper analysis of the real costs of technologies. This need becomes more acute when set within the context of the global economic downturn, which is showing limited signs of self-sustained improvement, despite the onset of numerous austerity and fiscal mechanisms designed to firm up the world’s finances. We believe that WEC can be a catalyst in the world’s attempt to build dialogue, share vision and reach consensus to achieve a sustainable future.

Hwan-eik Cho, Chairman of the World Energy Congress

Republished with permission from  Public Service Europe.