Suchergebnisse

The EU and Germany have set themselves ambitious climate and energy policy targets. Taking into account the need to reduce emissions from all sectors of the economy, they now have a different perspective on the energy situation in the Eastern Mediterranean than a few years ago.

Connecting Ukraine to the continental European power grid and the EU's electricity market is on the political agenda. However, establishing the necessary grid connections is technically complicated and also requires profound reforms to the Ukrainian electricity sector. But it is not only Ukraine that has to deliver; the EU and its member states will also have to make far-reaching and hugely significant geopolitical decisions. The project needs a politically coordinated roadmap that defines clear criteria and conditions for a common electricity grid.

Hydrogen is a highly versatile source of energy that has attracted growing interest among policymakers and industry players within the context of energy and climate policy. By drawing up its own strategy, the German government wants to promote the future use of this energy carrier in various sectors of the economy. However, a German hydrogen strategy cannot be drawn up independently from what is happening at the EU level and in other member states; rather, it must be conceived as an integral part of a Europe-wide policy. Since Germany currently imports more than 70 per cent of its primary energy sources, the market roll-out of hydrogen will inevitably have interna­tional dimensions. Therefore, it is important that this policy be anchored accordingly. In order to gradually create a market for hydrogen, the EU and Germany should push ahead with forming bilateral partnerships and developing multilateral governance.

The transformation of the energy system is a global phenomenon, but the process itself is still progressing far too slowly to halt climate change. However, for "human security", it has immediate positive effects. An energy system that is increasingly electrifying offers reduced dependence on fossil fuel supply chains and strengthens access to energy, thus serving as an economic factor that indirectly promotes national and international security. However, the perceivable geographical concentration of technology leadership and an imbalance in global finance raise new threats. These may translate into veritable geopolitical risks that require global cooperation in order to be overcome.

In the context of the security crisis in and over Ukraine, natural gas imports from Russia have become a source of debate in Germany and the European Union. Natural gas relations with Russia are often analyzed either through the prism of commercial and market-based transactions or that of foreign policy and geopolitics. In that respect, this Research Paper takes a holistic approach and tries to analyze and define the dynamics of (geo)politics and economic/commercial logics from the beginning of the early 1970s until today. The paper provides insights into the conducting of German-Russian gas relations at the levels of infrastructure development, trade, business-to-business and commercial ties, as well as political framing. It explains the nature and texture of the gas relations, which have been subject to change over time.

The US shale revolution is making a deep impact on the global energy markets, with the United States becoming self-sufficient in oil and gas and international flows shifting increasingly towards the Pacific region. But the Persian Gulf remains the backbone of the global oil markets, while its liquefied natural gas is of global strategic significance and a factor for energy supply diversification in Europe. Growing domestic energy security expands US policy options towards the Gulf states, whose regimes are already greatly unsettled by fears over an American pull-out. While there is as yet no sign of such a move, Europe must be prepared for greater burden-sharing with the United States, especially in relation to energy imports from the Gulf. Only in the long term and in interaction with political factors do developments in the energy markets have the potential to threaten the stability of the Arab Gulf states. In the short and medium term these countries will have to secure their own energy supplies while maintaining exports. They find themselves confronted with this challenge at a difficult juncture. Certainly, their existing socio-economic development model cannot simply be extrapolated into the future. The geopolitical imponderables in the Gulf region and the associated supply risks offer good grounds to push on with the German Energiewende (energy transition). At the same time the new energy map demands more international dialogue and closer cooperation. One starting point would be energy partnerships with the Gulf states. (SWP Research Paper)

Although electricity grids shape and define both political and economic spaces, the geopolitical significance of electricity remains underestimated. In political communities and beyond, such grids establish new channels for projecting geopolitical influence and new spheres of influence. In the Europe-Asia continental area, integrated electricity grids meet inter­connectors - that is, cross-border transmission lines linking different elec­tric grids. Interconnectors define new, partly competing vectors of integra­tion that extend beyond already integrated electricity grids. In this context, it is attractive for non-EU states to belong to the electricity system of continental Europe. This is because interconnected synchronous systems form 'grid communities' that share a 'common destiny' - not only in terms of electricity supply but also in terms of security and welfare. Germany and the EU must develop an electricity foreign policy in order to optimise, modernise, strengthen and expand the European electricity grid. Above all, however, Germany and the EU should help shape interconnectivity beyond the EU's common integrated electricity grid. China is gaining considerable influence in the electricity sector, setting standards and norms as well as expanding its strategic outreach - to the benefit of its own economy. Its efforts are part of Beijing's larger Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an attempt to reorient global infrastructure and commercial flows. In the EU's eastern neighbourhood, geopolitical issues have dominated the configuration of electricity grids since the end of the Cold War. There is unmistakable competition over integration between the EU and Russia. The eastern Mediterranean region, the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions, and Central Asia are, each in their own way, changing from peripheral zones into interconnecting spaces. The EU, China, Russia and - across the Black Sea - Iran and Turkey are competing in these zones to influence the reconfiguration of electricity ...

The global implications of a switch to hydrogen (H2) are far-reaching, as hydrogen will, at least in part, gradually replace the oil and gas trade, and new international trade flows will emerge. In addition, hydrogen will transform the industry, and its use will have disruptive effects that reshape the economic geography. Policymakers are being called upon to make far-reaching, fundamental decisions that will decisively shape the contours of the hydrogen world. Germany and the European Union (EU) should consider the geo-economic and political consequences when setting the course.

The Green Deal launched by the new Commission in 2019 is set to profoundly reshape the European Union (EU)'s energy diplomacy. However, although the EU will have to adapt to the new policy direction determined by the Green Deal, it cannot be reduced to it. The EU's energy diplomacy will need to cope with the profound and various geo‑economic and geopolitical shifts set in motion by the energy transition, which include - but even transcend - the Green Deal's goals. The current EU Energy Diplomacy Action Plan is due for revision. In setting the new priorities, the Union will need to strike a balance between global aspirations and limited financial means. The upcoming German EU Presidency is being called to step up its efforts to upgrade the EU's energy diplomacy along three lines. First, review the existing set of priorities accord­ing to the new challenges. Second, expand the geographic radius of its actions beyond its direct neighborhood by focusing on 12 anchor partners along the Afro-Eur-Asian ellipse. Third, upgrade its instruments toolbox along five new areas of action, avoiding an exclusively normative-ideological approach in favor of a more realistic and country-tailored one.

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- PART I GLOBAL ENERGY GOVERNANCE TODAY -- 2 The Global Energy Challenge -- 3 Blueprint for a Global Sustainable Energy Regime -- 4 The Institutional Landscape of Global Energy Governance -- PART II BRINGING IN MULTIPOLARITY -- 5 Major Power Concerts and Global Energy Governance -- 6 The Players of the Multipolar Energy Game -- 7 The G8's Track Record in Global Energy Governance -- PART III CONCLUSIONS -- 8 G8 Leadership in Global Energy Governance: An Evaluation -- 9 Prospects for Energy Cooperation in a Multipolar World -- Bibliography

"Global Energy Governance in a Multipolar World investigates the relationship between the emergence of a multipolar world order and the enormous challenges with regard to global energy governance the world is facing in the 21st century. Multipolarity means that a number of important states have significantly more economic and political clout than others, but among them there is hardly any hierarchy. Multipolarity will inevitably mark and determine the 21st-century global governance architecture." "The new energy challenge, with its intricate socio-economic, ecological and international-political dimensions, is a multidimensional, multi-level and multi-actor issue that requires a minimum of "central" political steering, because neither the invisible hand of the market, nor unilateral or bilateral power politics are capable of bringing about sustainable solutions. This book reflects on more fundamental questions such as how the main consuming countries can avoid conflict over scarce resources, and how they will cooperate to bring about open energy markets, energy conservation and efficiency, and massively promote renewables."--Jacket

The Russian-Ukrainian gas controversy of January 2009 provoked the until then biggest gas supply crisis in Europe. At the same time, it marked a turning-point in the relationship between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. The controversy clearly demonstrated that the recurrent confrontations between Russia and Ukraine have deep structural roots that jeopardize security on Europe's most important transit route. Although both countries concluded a new gas agreement in January 2009, this by no means signifies that all conflicts have now been settled. There is still the incessant political and economic crisis in Ukraine which is closely intertwined with severe problems in the country's energy sector. Russia and the EU, in turn, may have strategic interests in the Ukrainian energy market and its future orientation but their relationship is characterized by latent competition. The smouldering conflicts confront Germany and the EU with challenges on energy policy and, more broadly, on foreign policy whose urgency is connected with specific conditions of geography and infrastructure: The EU is the world's biggest net importer of gas; Russia is the biggest gas producer and exporter as well as the country with the biggest proven gas reserves; and Ukraine is by far the most important transit country for Europe. These facts of life will remain unchanged in the foreseeable future. Gas imports from the East, therefore, will remain a constant irritant and testing ground for a common European energy policy. These interconnections pose the question as to the lessons and consequences that should be drawn for German and European policy

The connection between the policy fields of energy and health may be hard to grasp at first glance. Nevertheless, the negative externalities resulting from the consumption of fossil fuels are clearly identified. In January 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) named climate change and air pollution as two of the greatest challenges to human health. A differentiated look at infrastructure, availability and quality of energy supply and healthcare as well as at access to both shows how closely intertwined these policy fields are. No modern hospital can operate without secure electricity supply and efficient cold chains are essential for storing vaccines. In line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the two policy fields must be designed and interlinked in such a way that they contribute to human security beyond national borders and take planetary boundaries into account. It is necessary to bring health and energy together and to create synergies between them. This would be an important step towards a swifter implementation of the SDGs.

The 2016 German Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) comes at a time of increasing awareness about the interdependence between energy security and hard, economic, and human security. Energy risks are endemic in the OSCE area. Because these risks have an impact on regional security, there are good reasons for the OSCE to assume a stronger role in addressing energy security issues and reducing energy risks in the OSCE area. In so doing, the OSCE can utilise its existing capabilities in the areas of awareness-raising, early warning, prevention, mitigation, and crisis management and can build on its missions, tools, and field presence. Furthermore, the OSCE's focus on connectivity can contribute towards reducing energy risks arising from outdated or insufficient infrastructure by addressing physical connectivity jointly with legal and regulatory compatibility to improve the investment climate and foster stable policy frameworks. (SWP Comments)