A 10-point action plan to resolve the energy trilemma

October 18, 2013 | By

The World Energy Council (WEC) today issued a 10-point action plan for how governments, industry, and decisionmakers should refocus their efforts and resources to achieve real progress in resolving the energy trilemma of energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability. 

The report is the culmination of the findings of a two-year World Energy Council study, World Energy Trilemma.  Recommendations from the past two years of study were the result of interviews with over 100 energy leaders in 41 countries.

"Governments face a daunting challenge to deliver secure, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy services. How well they meet it has a fundamental bearing on the social and economic prospects of their countries," said Joan MacNaughton, executive chair of the WEC's World Energy Trilemma studies.

Leaders, by their own admission, are ready to act and WEC has issued these 10 action points:

  1. Connect the energy trilemma to the broader national agenda.
  2. Provide leadership to build consensus -- nationally and globally.
  3. Improve policymaker dialogue.
  4. Increase engagement with the financial community.
  5. Minimize policy and regulatory risk and ensure optimal risk allocation.
  6. Adopt market-based approaches to carbon pricing to drive investments.
  7. Design transparent, flexible and dynamic pricing frameworks.
  8. Drive (green) trade liberalization.
  9. Meet the need for more research, development and demonstration
  10. Encourage joint pre-commercial industry initiatives, including early large-scale demonstration and deployment.

Addressing strong demand growth, widening access to the 1.2 billion people currently not served by energy grids, and balancing the upgrade of aging infrastructure with environmentally progressive systems requires investment and coordination on an unprecedented scale. However, the impact of shale gas discoveries in more than 40 countries, cost breakthroughs in certain renewable technologies, and increasing the efficiency of transport, construction and household energy use could enable communities to live and work within a widely more sustainable energy landscape, according to the report.

For more:
- see the report

 

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