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Security of Supply

Those two interventions have achieved their purpose. We recognise the need to move swiftly, and we are even more determined to move swiftly than we were before we started the debate. The fifth problem or challenge that we face is rapid change in the geopolitical climate. Rapid economic growth in countries such as India and China is placing huge demand on world markets. China is already the world’s second largest consumer of energy. The international dimension of those problems was highlighted over the new year, during the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas supplies. That dispute has reminded us all of the need for diverse energy supplies, which applies both to what energy we source and to where it comes from. A vital challenge for the G8 this year will be to ensure that when supplies are scarce, the scarcity does not lead to conflict as it might have in the past but is resolved through diplomatic channels.