Securing Access to Energy

Ensuring secure, affordable supplies of energy is a matter of growing global importance. The challenges ahead include: the depletion of oil and other fossil fuels; the reliance of most countries on foreign energy sources; global distributional conflicts arising from the rapidly growing demand for exhaustible fossil fuels; and geopolitical conflicts arising from the political instability of exporter countries, from exporters using their market power for political purposes, or from terrorism funded by petrodollars.

What are the most effective strategies of increasing energy security? Diversifying energy supplies? Enhancing market transparency and integration? To what extent should these strategies be coordinated internationally? What kind of technological innovations need to be promoted for mitigating energy security risks? What regulation and territorial integration of distribution networks is required to mitigate energy security risks and avoid conflicts between energy producing and consuming countries? How can distributional conflicts between energy consuming countries be avoided?