Event reports
International energy agents forecast a growing energy demand - some up to 40 per cent by 2030. Despite the significant annual rise in renewable energy, there is doubt whether the role of fossil energy re-sources will be out phased and experts agree that crude oil will remain the most important resource. In his book “Resource Wars” (2001), Michael T Clair predicts that by 2030 Russia and China will be responsi-ble for 43 per cent of resource consumption. The decrease in gas and oil reserves will lead to increased competition especially be-tween India and China due to demand in-creasing as a result of population growth and higher standards of living. The current search for more resources has already given rise to military conflicts in some parts of the world and thus the dramatic competition could lead to increased conflicts over energy resources. The central question in this con-text is how the EU should respond to the challenges?
It is upon this background the Workshop “Future Conflicts over Energy Security and Resources – The Need for a European Energy Policy” took place. Amongst the participants were Professor Friedbert Pflüger and Professor Mervyn Frost from the Department of War Studies at King´s College London, Dr Gerhard Wahlers, Deputy Secretary General of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Charles Hendry MP, Shadow Minister for Energy, Thomas Bareiß MP, Coordinator for Energy Policy of the CDU/CSU Faction in the German Bundestag, Filip Cornelis, Head of Cabinet of the Directorate General Energy and Transport in the EU Commission and Dr Frank Umbach, Senior Associate of the Centre for European Security Strategies in Munich. The discussions were chaired by Dr Peter Neumann, Director of ICSR. Central to the discussions were the threat of energy conflicts and how the Euro-pean Union could and should approach them.
Following the workshop, at which a limited number of experts from politics, business and academia participated, Dr Jürgen Großmann, Chief Executive Officer of RWE, held a public lecture on “Energy Security for the Coming Decades”, addressing up to 100 participants. In his speech Dr Großmann emphasised the need of all possible energy resources to ensure energy supply for the present and future, underlining that the contribution of renewable energies will re-main low for the foreseeable time to come.
Both the number of participants as well as the engagement of high level experts, business leaders and politicians reflects the need for a platform that addresses the topic of resource- and energy security and its relevance with regards to conflicts. The outcome of the workshop, as well as the positive feedback from participants, of which many had indicated their interest and sup-port of future events on the topic, serves as an indicator for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to explore this issue further.