03 April 2009

GPPi holds 5th Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues session

The Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin held the fifth “Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues” session entitled “Governing Global Oil in the 21st Century: Trends, Challenges and Policy Implications for the Transatlantic Alliance” from 2 – 3 April 2009 at the Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland (just outside Washington, DC). The conference was organized in collaboration with the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University. Additional Support is provided by the European Commission, the Daimler Fonds im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and the Elfriede Dräger Memorial Foundation.

Oil continues to stand firmly at the front and center as a source of energy for the transatlantic partners, and indeed for the rest of the world. In contrast to widely held perception, oil will remain a critical component of our energy mix, supplying an estimated 33 percent of global energy as far into the future as 2030. Hence, it remains the single largest fuel in the primary fuel mix and total consumption is expected to increase by 70 percent. Being a crucial component of the economic and social health of a nation, experts have referred to oil as a “hinge” upon which economic development is critically dependent. 

However, a number of significant, interlocking trends are currently transforming the framework conditions for global oil markets and require us to rethink the suitability and effectiveness of current governance arrangements that underpin the production, financing, trade and consumption of the resources: (i) the rise of new consumers (most notably China and India); (ii) the increasing role of state players on oil markets; and (iii) the elevation of climate protection and domestic resource governance to “high energy politics”. Together, these trends and their overall effect on the global oil market present significant challenges. It is crucial to determine exactly what implications these trends will have for the existing institutions and mechanisms of global oil governance, and what transatlantic partners can and should do to effectively deal with the resulting challenges.

This Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogue brought together professionals from all relevant sectors (governments, NGOs, business, the media, think tank and universities) in order to promote constructive debate on these issues through keynote speeches, panel discussions and working groups. The dialogue sessions were also designed to complement GPPi’s research program on global energy governance and serve as an important forum for both presenting our ideas and receiving feedback. Speakers included: German Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Ammon, Adam Sieminski (Chief Energy Economist, Deutsche Bank), Ed Chow (Senior Fellow, CSIS), Fareed Mohamedi (Partner, PFC Energy), David Goldwyn (Goldwyn International Strategies), Eckart von Klaeden (Member of German Parliament and Spokesman for Foreign Policy Affairs, CDU-CSU), and Said Nachet (Energy Director, International Energy Forum), among others.

The conference fills a critical gap in the current public debate on global oil in the US and Europe which focuses more narrowly on individual actors’ security considerations. In addition, the governance perspective with respect to the oil market is virtually absent in both the US and European debates on energy security.

To download the agenda, please click here.

For more information, please contact Wade Hoxtell.

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