E3G

Energy, Politics, and Poverty

By Chris Littlecott

The Oxford University High-Level Task Force on UK Energy Security, Climate Change and Development Assistance has today launched its report ‘Energy Politics, and Poverty’ [1Mb pdf].

E3G Founding Director Tom Burke was one of the members of the task force, which was chaired by the Chancellor of Oxford University, Lord Patten of Barnes.

The report analyses the three interlinked issues of Energy Security, Climate Change and Global Poverty and sets out a series of recommendations which would constitute a better UK response.

It is interesting to see that central to their analysis is the need for the UK to work with its European partners to secure these outcomes:

A Stronger European Framework

The United Kingdom should more vigorously push for the following outcomes in the European Union:

1. Completion of the physical European grid for gas and electricity with common carrier obligations for all EU states, ensuring that individual European states do not seek to guarantee energy security for themselves at the expense of others;

2. Reforming the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, as a mechanism to deliver the “20% by 2020” target reduction;

3. Completion of the single market for energy, including unbundling of networks and enforcement of existing competition law against national champions;

4. Improved EU arrangements for sharing storage in times of crisis, and other mutual assistance agreements;

5. More support for energy research and development focused on viable technologies especially renewables, and carbon capture and sequestration, for which publicly-funded demonstration projects are a matter of priority to be able to reach the ambitious targets set by the EU;

6. Expanded scope of EU minimum standards for energy efficiency.