Transatlantic Cooperation for Sustainable Energy Security: A Report of the Global Dialogue Between the European Union and the United States

The world is energy short and carbon long. This report focuses on that juxtaposition and the means to achieve energy security in a world concerned over climate change and maintaining economic growth. The provision of a sustainable energy future will require a dramatic transformation of the world's energy supplies and consumption patterns. The current global financial crisis and accompanying economic downturn has made meeting this challenge significantly more difficult. Despite the current softening of energy demand, the world is facing a long-term tightening of conventional energy supplies and a need to address increasing environmental concerns that will require international cooperation on an unprecedented scale. This will not occur unless the transatlantic community moves in concert to increase the efficiency of energy use and to develop and deploy the technologies required to meet the needs of both the developed and developing countries. Efficient and effective technologies, policies, and regulations will be required to sustain economic growth throughout the world. Without a high degree of global cooperation, the objectives of achieving secure, reasonably priced energy to foster economic prosperity will not be attainable. However, global cooperation will not occur without a significant increase in transatlantic cooperation. The world is looking to the developed countries to lead, and leadership of the transatlantic community is crucial. Neither Europe nor the United States will be capable of achieving the above objectives in isolation. The report, along with a companion report focused on climate change, proposes a means by which the transatlantic community can effectively cooperate within itself and with other countries and international organizations by outlining 12 specific recommendations to governments on both side of the Atlantic.

Franklin D. Kramer and John Lyman are members of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council of the United States.