Introduction ‐ Policy Agendas for the Future of Global Energy
| Date | 01 May 2012 |
| Published date | 01 May 2012 |
| Author | Andreas Goldthau |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00161.x |
Introduction - Policy Agendas for the
Future of Global Energy
Andreas Goldthau
Head of Public Policy Department, and Associate Professor,
Central European University
Foreword
Since energy has made it to the top of policy agendas, it
has become subject to fierce debates between ‘market-
ers’ and ‘securitizers’. Market proponents tend to argue
that energy is ‘just another commodity’ that is traded on
markets, with prices determined by supply and demand.
Policy agendas should, therefore, focus on making mar-
kets work and at fixing market failures. Security propo-
nents, by contrast, tend to view energy as a ‘hard
security’ issue, and hence subject to geopolitical schem-
ing. Energy policies should, in their view, be synchro-
nized with foreign policy agendas. These debates on
global energy miss out on three fronts. First, energy
resources are more than ‘ordinary commodities’ or part
of ‘capabilities’ in the neorealist sense. They are of cru-
cial importance to the welfare and economic develop-
ment of countries and societies. In this, policy agendas
based either on a purist security perspective or a neolib-
eral one obviously miss the target. Second, energy is
now recognized as being at the core of the climate
change problem. The world’s transition towards a low
carbon future therefore adds an additional layer of com-
plexity to national and global energy policy making,
putting in question the effectiveness of ‘classic’ policy
toolboxes. Third, the rise of developing Asia brings to
the fore yet another policy challenge: access to afford-
able and reliable energy services. Challenges particularly
arise from the energy demand side, as lifting some 20
per cent of the world’s population out of energy poverty
requires national and global energy systems to effec-
tively respond to demand increments. Challenges also
arise with regards to climate policy, as the consumption
increment is not necessarily ‘green’. Universal energy
access therefore requires holistic thinking across tradi-
tional policy fields.
Policy agendas for the future of global energy need to
account for these three factors. They need to embrace
the intertwined challenges of a smooth transition into a
low carbon future and of providing energy access for bil-
lions of people without compromising sustainability
goals. Energy therefore is more than a commodity or a
sector. It is a crosscutting policy field. This Special Section
departs from this finding. It aims at offering an analyti-
cally rigorous assessment of the challenges facing global
energy by at the same time sketching implications for
energy policy agendas. Individual contributions in the
section adopt a policy perspective focusing on selected
key challenges whilst broadening discussions beyond the
very policy field in which a given challenge occurs.
Setting the stage, Fatih Birol argues that while energy
security and climate change have received wide atten-
tion among policy makers during the last few years,
energy access has not. As he stresses in his contribution
titled Energy for All: The Next Challenge, policies therefore
need to refocus on eradicating energy poverty, notably
by still giving the security and climate dimensions two
the appropriate attention. Yet, designing appropriate
policies also very much depends on what one regards as
at the core of the problem. In his contribution entitled
From the State to the Market and Back. Policy Implications
of Changing Energy Paradigms, Andreas Goldthau there-
fore points out that energy policy is crucially informed
by paradigms, providing for policy prescriptions and
determining agendas of policy makers. Energy security,
for instance, has constantly received strong political
attention ever since oil prices quadrupled almost over-
night in 1973, following the Arab oil embargo. Yet, as
Goldthau points out, government policies aimed at
achieving energy security oscillated between state based
and market based approaches throughout the last dec-
ades. Since paradigms inform energy policy making, the
latter is about more than ‘making markets work’ or
securing supplies by foreign policy means. It is about
embedding policy choices in the environment they
occur. Finally, and addressing a key means to improve
energy security and achieve a sustainable future energy
system, Shonali Pachauri, Diana Urge-Vorsatz and
Michael LaBelle focus on energy efficiency. Yet, rather
than assessing the issue in isolation from the energy
supply dimension, their contribution entitled Synergies
between Energy Efficiency and Energy Access Policies and
Strategies highlights the advantages of embedding
energy efficiency criteria in policies aimed at improving
energy access to low income households. By looking
Global Policy Volume 3 . Issue 2 . May 2012
ª2011 London School of Economics and Political Science and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Global Policy (2012) 3:2 doi: 10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00161.x
Special Section: Introduction
182
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