“The climate is not going to wait on us to confront autocrats.”
So said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm who added: “It’s not a binary choice: we must increase reliable supply and increase clean energy. The future climate and national security are bound together and demand an accelerated transition.”
Granholm was speaking this week as she chaired the International Energy Agency’s Ministerial Meeting in Paris. The event welcomed energy and climate ministers as well as key industry players to address the Russian threat to energy security and map an action plan to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies.
What was made abundantly clear during this meeting is the urgent need to increase energy security, while continuing to advance energy efficiency and renewables.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said governments “must keep lights on but not turn off efforts on climate change. Russian aggression must not impact our climate action.”
But this is easier said than done. Increasing the supply of oil and gas while decreasing consumption will be a fine balance indeed, requiring a well-coordinated global effort, and a never-before-seen collaboration between countries.
Representatives at the Ministerial Meeting called for the increase in oil and gas production and supply while simultaneously stressing the urgent need to embrace clean energy tech, a paradox if ever there was one.
Granholm stated the US is committed to ramping up production, with production levels projecting record highs.
And Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, was praised for his announcement that his country will increase oil production to 300TBD by end of the year, a 10% increase. Albuquerque said: “We are on a wartime footing – this is an emergency.”
Reiterating the dire situation Europe is facing, Birol said Europe “needs to act quickly to face considerable uncertainty through next winter”.
Practical steps
Rather than an all-talk-no-action situation, speakers seemed genuinely committed to offering practical steps to bolster energy security, without abandoning climate progress.
Meg O’Neill, Chief Executive Officer of Woodside Energy, stressed that red tape and bureaucracy must be urgently addressed as barriers to supporting near-term energy security.
This sentiment was echoed by Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, EDF who said the situation requires “urgent action”.
“We must combine long term objectives with short term urgencies,” he said, calling on regulators to help.
“Tax is not a solution to a global problem. The right solution is to get the western world in good cooperation supported by better regulation. This might mean some products go off-market, or the introduction of caps on gas prices.”
The truth is that despite post-COP26 net-zero pledges and the push for electrification and renewables, governments are in a tight spot, needing to keep lights on, homes warmed and economy cogs turning.
The Russian situation has highlighted that no matter our good intentions, we are not fossil-free yet. The legacy of oil & gas will be with us for the foreseeable future.
World leaders are now faced with a tough challenge to ensure our climate progress is not held hostage, while we hasten to secure energy supplies.
Pamela Largue
Staff writer Power Engineering International
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