Toespraak van minister Koenders Energy Charter (Engels)

Toespraak | 20-05-2015

Ladies and gentlemen,

We truly live in times of rapid change; in times of turmoil; in times of insecurity and doubt; in times that we won’t be able to fully fathom even in a couple of decades. Let me just highlight two events which, at first sight, are seemingly unrelated. The first event is an on-going one: it is the wave of refugees and immigrants that risk their lives on the Mediterranean See, pushed to the limit by cynical, entrepreneuring traffickers of false hope and human lives. It is truly a humanitarian crisis.

The other event took place many thousands of miles from the Mediterranean. Somewhere in Silicon Valley, the investor-entrepreneur Elon Musk presented his new battery, based on the technique from his electronic car company, that stores the energy from the sun at a more efficient rate than thus far possible. It is the home solution for sustainability and individual energy independence. The crowd went wild with enthusiasm. Tech and sustainable living are quite trendy.

How are these related? The men, women and children trying to reach Europe are hoping to escape the destitution of their home countries. There are many reasons for this destitution, but more and more, draughts and climate change is one of them.

This is how the presentation in Silicon Valley and the humanitarian crisis on the Mediterranean are connected: they both touch upon the most important issue of our time: energy and climate change—and all the effects and events that derive from them. We live in a time where all great political questions are becoming more and more connected to a single overarching question: how will we deal with what some scientists are now calling ‘the anthropocene’—the era of man-made global-scale environmental revolution.

The international energy landscape is changing rapidly. New producers are emerging in Africa and Latin America. Demand continues to increase in Asia and the Middle East. And the United States have the ambition to become self-sufficient. We may also see renewed production and exports from Iran. Within this balance of forces, the interdependency of supply, demand and transit is growing. So it’s important to invest in relations with new players on the energy market and deepen existing energy ties.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the near future will be defined more than ever by energy, sustainability and climate issues. The way we organise – and safeguard – our energy supply is one of the greatest political issues of our time.

In the interests of all the world’s people, it’s crucial to combat the use of energy as a political instrument. Especially now that geopolitics has become an issue again, we need to prevent energy from being used for political leverage.

Good governance, the rule of law and international cooperation are vital for a reliable, uninterrupted, safe and sustainable energy supply. The Energy Charter helps, because it provides us with agreements on energy cooperation and energy trade.

The world is changing fast. The energy challenges we face are daunting: worldwide energy demand is set to increase by 30 per cent by 2030. Eighty per cent of that growth will be in emerging economies outside the OECD. Those economies have every right to develop into powerful engines of the world economy.

But future growth should always be viewed in the context of the changing climate. The interconnectedness between energy, climate, economic growth and security will, in the near future, more and more take the centre stage. In the long run, climate change will have a negative effect on the world economy. Inequality between countries, regions and continents will grow. Climate change will determine the relationship between states—even more than it does currently. The question is: how will we deal with that. One of the top priorities must be to think of the issues around energy, climate and security integrally. Climate-diplomacy is not a gimmick, but a necessity. Jointly combatting the most disastrous effects of climate change is paramount, and jointly working to transition into a more sustainable world-economy is of the utmost priority. Key pillars of the sustainable society, on a global scale, we envision are: renewable energy, sustainable use of raw materials, sustainable transport, a knowledge economy and smart growth. Therefore, looking a bit further ahead, our goal for the climate summit in Paris in 2015 is an ambitious, flexible and dynamic climate agreement with universal participation.

Climate negotiations and the ambition to combat poverty worldwide bring with them a challenge: how to make the global energy system sustainable, and accessible to all. Hopefully, in September in New York, we adopt a Sustainable Development Goal for Energy. For the Netherlands, ‘Sustainable Societies’ is one of the priorities for our candidacy for the UN Security Council for the term 2017-2018.

Sustainable and renewable energy is playing a role in the lives of more and more people all over the world, both in terms of both climate change and access to reliable energy sources. The Energy Charter Treaty is an instrument that allows us to future-proof our energy supply. We need to invest in sustainable energy, protect those investments, and work together at regional and international level.

If we hope to safeguard access to reliable energy sources for all human beings on earth, we must make the transition towards a more sustainable use of our energy sources—in Europe just as much as in the rest of the world. With the currently rapid exhaustion of our natural energy-reserves, we will have to rely more heavily on the importation of energy in the coming decades. The more energy we can save; and the more energy we can generate sustainably, the better. The signs are good: investment worldwide in electricity and sustainable sources is growing at impressive rates: last year we saw an increase of 17%. In this field as well, the Energy Charter has an important part to play, for example in the way it protects investors.

The current price of oil prompts many countries to abandon their subsidies on fossil fuels. These reforms in the energy sector can be a powerful stimulus to the economy, and enable diversification and stability. The Energy Charter is a platform to share and exchange experiences, knowledge and best practices. We all benefit from this cooperation.

Let me return briefly to my introduction. More and more, the events that happen worldwide are interconnected. That calls for a sense of responsibility that transgresses the boundaries of individual nation-states. Global-scale problems call for global-scale visionaries, for global-scale responsibility; and for global-scale ambitions, even if our actions will be mostly on the local level. I am hoping that the Energy Charter conference is able to adopt a bit of this spirit; and I hope that today will be a very productive and successful day.

Thank you.