34 energy
IEA analysis consistently identifies one policy area that stands to contribute the lion’ s share of cuts to carbon emissions, reductions in local pollution, and costeffective energy security- energy efficiency. Simply put, the cleanest megawatt will be the one we never need, and the most secure barrel the one we never burn.
… climate change passed a grim milestone, when carbon concentration in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million.
In June, the IEA released a World Energy Outlook Special Report,‘ Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map’. The report examined four critical steps that can be taken before 2020, in the absence of implementation of a multilateral agreement on climate change, to keep the world on track to the 2-degree goal. Even if a deal is finally done in Paris, full implementation will take time. These time-critical measures, which incur zero net economic cost and use proven technologies, can help keep the fastclosing door open to that important international goal. Of the four( which also include limiting the construction of least-efficient coal power plants, minimising methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production, and accelerating the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies), energy efficiency measures accounted for nearly half of all carbon savings. These and other‘ stop-gap’ measures must be considered in the run-up to 2015, and we encourage G20 leaders to do so.
Sustainability is not only about climate change, however. When it comes to economic questions( including improving the transparency, stability, and integration of markets), leaders at the G20 will be acutely aware that policy discussions are taking place within the context of a fundamentally shifting global energy map. The economic rise of emerging markets like China and India have signalled a global economic rebalancing, including within energy markets. IEA analysis shows growing non-OECD energy demand, particularly in China, to continue over time( despite the recent slow-down among the largest emerging economies). Meanwhile energy demand in Europe and the US is stagnating or falling. Much of the new oil and gas supply is expected from the Americas, and most of the new demand from Asia and the Middle East.
From changing trade and import patterns, to the global economic outlook, to the possibility of technological game-changers, uncertainty will mark the energy policy landscape in St. Petersburg. That is all the more reason
IEA analysis shows growing non-OECD energy demand, particularly in China, to continue over time
for leaders to work to ensure that policy stability, for example with regard to lowcarbon investments, is a priority at the national and international level.
The G20 meeting in St. Petersburg will not be the last one at which energy issues take a prominent role. The arc of global economic interdependence, and also the trajectory of energy market and technological advances, point to an evermore important role for international energy governance. The IEA continues to provide a major focal point for global cooperation on such issues, and the G20 provides a unique platform for heads of state and government to consider them within the context of broader discussions on the global economy. As the future of that economy wavers, and as systemic shifts spread prosperity more widely, taking a global and cooperative approach to international energy issues will be crucial- with implications for international institutions like the IEA and the G20 itself.