Energy Chief Opens Future Energy Security Summit
The Energy Secretary delivered opening remarks at the International Energy Agency (IEA) Future of Energy Security summit.
Francine, thank you so much.
And distinguished delegates, on behalf of the UK government and the International Energy Agency, I want to welcome you all to this historic setting of Lancaster House and to London for this first global summit on the Future of Energy Security.
As Francine has said, there are numerous countries represented here – almost 60 countries represented here today.
And I want to thank each and every one of you who have made the trip here. We truly appreciate your presence and we really look forward to the discussions over the coming 2 days.
We also have leaders from more than 50 global businesses with us.
And I want to thank all of you for everything you do to help create energy security for our countries and our world.
And we also have NGOs and civil society groups from around the world who are here with us, who play an important role in ensuring accountability of governments.
I also want to pay a specific thank you to the official partners of the summit: Iberdrola-Scottish Power, National Grid, SSE and Urenco.
And if I may, I want to also thank the teams at the International Energy Agency and across the UK government who have worked incredibly hard to pull this event together. It is some feat of organisation.
And I want if I may also to pay particular tribute to Fatih Birol. Fatih, your leadership of the IEA for nearly a decade now has been marked by your commitment to rigour, to values and to multilateral cooperation. That is why the IEA is so central to the global discussion on energy, and I want to thank you. Perhaps the audience could show our appreciation for Fatih and the work he does.
You’ve got much more interesting people than me to hear from in these coming sessions, but let me make a few remarks to frame our discussions over the next 2 days.
First, our starting point for this summit is that in an unstable and uncertain world, there can be no national or international security without energy security.
And indeed it is now more than 50 years since the IEA was founded in response to the oil crisis of 1973.
Over that time, the challenges we face have changed.
But I think the principle underpinning the IEA’s work – that countries need to collaborate to secure the uninterrupted supply of energy at an affordable price – remains the same.
And in the years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we’ve been reminded in the UK, and indeed across Europe and the world of a simple truth:
That as long as energy can be weaponised against us, our countries and our citizens are vulnerable and exposed.
It is for this reason that energy security is also at the heart of economic security – because it is central to living standards, job creation and economic growth.
And we hope this summit marks an important moment for countries to come together and discuss what the shifting global landscape means for how we deliver energy security in this era.
Second, the act of bringing together, which is an initiative that I’ve taken alongside Fatih and the IEA, I think stems from an underlying belief that can unite us all, which is there is huge benefit for us from cooperating on the basis of our shared interests.
I think it’s really important to say every country faces its own energy security challenges and its own constraints.
And each country will pursue its own pathway, following its national interest in securing its energy supplies.
Different pathways – and I think this is a really important point for this conference – different pathways for different nations should be respected.
And we will all get a chance to reflect on our different national circumstances in our discussions over the coming days.
But here is the key thing: whatever our national pathways, I do believe that we share a fundamental belief that shared challenges invite shared solutions.
Multilateral co-operation can make us stronger not weaker – in our own individual national interest.
Third point – hopefully this is also a uniting idea – I believe that we gathered here are the optimists about what we can achieve for our society. Business, government, civil society – I believe we are, in this energy sector, the optimists.
Abundant energy can raise living standards, economic growth and deliver for today’s and future generations of citizens.
For the UK, just to talk about us for a moment, there is an exciting vision of energy security and abundance from cheap, homegrown, low carbon power.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we saw family finances, business finances and public finances wrecked as fossil fuel prices rocketed on the global markets, and therefore here in Britain.
Now oil and gas, including from our North Sea, will continue to play an important role in our energy system, and we really value our industry and the jobs it supports. But as with many countries, we are a price taker not a price maker in international fossil fuel markets.
So our vision of low carbon power goes well beyond the climate imperative – important as that is. Homegrown low carbon power is our nationally chosen route to energy security.
Solar power, wind power, tidal, geothermal, nuclear power – also an essential part of the low carbon opportunity.
These are often unlimited, low-cost power supplies which we can exploit for the benefit of our citizens.
So to be clear about this, ours is a hard-headed approach to the role of low carbon power as the route to energy security.
And I believe this isn’t just true for the UK – alongside a continuing important role for oil and gas, low carbon energy can play a critical role in delivering energy security for many countries around the world.
And it presents a solution to the issue of energy security that simply wasn’t true in the same way as a decade and a half ago – and this again is important – and that’s because of what many countries in this room, working with business, public and private sector together, have achieved.
The cost of solar globally has fallen by 90% since 2010.
Offshore wind by more than 60%.
That’s in part why last year, $2 trillion was invested in clean energy with 80% of new electricity generation met by renewables and nuclear.
Indeed, according to BNEF, for more than two-thirds of the world’s population, new renewables are the cheapest source of bulk power generation.
In the spirit of multilateralism, the UK is determined to work with others to accelerate this transition, including through our Global Clean Power Alliance, which the Prime Minister launched at the G20 last year.
Final point, let me finish by saying that at a time when so much of what is happening in the world looks so intractable, I hope we can carry this spirit of optimism into our deliberations.
And I hope genuinely that everyone here enjoys this event and your time in London.
I want to end with the following message from His Majesty The King that he has asked me to read out to you all because this summit is something that he was very much personally interested in.
And this is the message from King Charles:
As we all navigate the transition to cleaner energy for our planet and energy security for our citizens, summits such as these are of vital importance in facilitating shared learning between nations, particularly those in the global south and across the Commonwealth.
Events over recent years have shown that, when well-managed, the transition to more sustainable energy sources can itself lead to more resilient and secure energy systems.
While each country will follow its individual path, there are many shared challenges and opportunities on which we can work together, as partners.
And he ends by saying:
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for participating in this summit on the future of energy security, and to send my warmest best wishes for productive discussions over the coming days.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your attendance, and now it’s my huge privilege to introduce the Executive Director of the IEA, Dr Fatih Birol.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/future-of-energy-security-summit-energy-secretary-opening-remarks