Ella Kokotsis: Energy Security and Climate Change at the G7 Brussels Summit

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G8 Summits > 2014 Brussels Summit

Energy Security and Climate Change at the G7 Brussels Summit

Ella Kokotsis
G8 Research Group
June 5, 2014

Energy security was a key issue identified by the G7 leaders coming into the Brussels Summit, with the G7 noting clearly at the outset that the use of energy supplies as a means of a threat to security were "unacceptable." The recent situation in Ukraine highlighted the leaders' conviction that diversifying the energy supply had to be at the centre of their collective agenda. They thus committed to implement concrete domestic policies to build "a more competitive, diversified, resilient, low-carbon energy system" based on the principles their energy ministers mutually agreed to at their ministerial meeting on May 5-6 in Rome.

Based on the principles agreed to in Rome, the G7 leaders acknowledged they would take the following actions:

develop emergency energy plans for winter 2014-15 at a regional level;

facilitate exchanges with Ukraine on renewable energies and energy efficiency;

ask the International Energy Agency by the end of 2014 to present a list of options for individual and collective actions in the field of gas security;

promote the use of low-carbon technologies (and nuclear in the countries that opt to use it); and

promote a more integrated market for liquified natural gas.

The leaders asked their energy ministers to report back to them on progress made in 2015.

But the leaders were also clear in recognizing the link between energy security and climate change, noting that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and a move to a low-carbon economy were both necessary for energy security. In doing so, the G7 leaders acknowledged that they would do their part to limit the increase in global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. They further noted their commitment toward a new protocol in 2015, a legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the convention applicable to all parties.

Although no new money was pledged for energy and climate change in Brussels, the G7 reaffirmed their prior Copenhagen Accord commitment of mobilizing an additional $100 billion per year by 2020 from both private and public sources aimed at mitigation and adaptation needs in developing countries.

In terms of fossil fuel subsidies, the G7 indicated its commitment to the elimination of subsidies and noted its intent to improve the measurement, reporting, verification and accounting of carbon emissions, consistent with agreements with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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