The world will need better regional, national and international governance – more effective and inclusive decision-making mechanisms and institutions. The following are key questions around improvements in governance and institutional design:
- Western-dominated institutions will need to adapt and expand, and there have been some changes already in this direction, as in the G8 being superseded by the G20. What else needs to happen? Should the International Energy Agency (IEA) expand its membership to include countries outside the OECD, and should it look to expand its mandate beyond representing the interests of energy consuming nations
- Should the electricity industry support a strengthened oversight role for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so as to help ensure the peaceful expansion of nuclear energy is not compromised by the actions of rogue states or terrorists? Should the electricity sector support efforts to reform the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), encourage wider adoption of the Additional Protocol, and support disarmament through the Global Zero initiative?
- Do we need new problem-solving mechanisms for addressing issues at the nexus of water and energy?
- Stakeholder consultation processes in many jurisdictions have expanded to include NGOs, native peoples, and other local and community groups. What does best practice look like around stakeholder consultation, addressing ‘not-in-my-backyard’ (NIMBY) concerns, and addressing global needs? Is there an optimal balance to be found between good faith consultation and the need for leadership and tough decisions if the energy transition is to go ahead as required?
- Do we need to rethink electricity boundaries so as to strengthen inter-jurisdictional cooperation in such areas as carbon offsets, ultra high voltage transmission projects, and electricity storage to support intermittent renewables?
Conclusion
Energy has powered historical progress and fossil fuels led to extraordinary gains at an important moment in human history. But now we have entered another era. The energy system faces myriad challenges and risks in an increasingly interdependent world, and these could become destabilizing factors in communities and regions.
Although there is now an expectation that a subset of energy - low carbon electricity - will have a central and expanding role in global energy use, many questions have yet to be answered in how this transition is to occur. And it will not happen by itself; if electricity is to answer this challenge over the next few decades, governments and the electricity industry today must work to develop a long-term policy path and identify priorities in such key transitional areas as integrated planning, low carbon supply, carbon pricing, clean energy capital, and energy governance.
As the stakes have risen and our fates have become more intertwined around global energy challenges, it is now incumbent on governments and industry to think more ambitiously and systematically in determining how electricity can answer the expectations and hopes that are being placed on its shoulders. Electricity must be given the authority to proceed and the means to succeed if it is to move from understudy to center stage.
If you’d like a pdf of this entire six part series, just visit us at the Canadian Electricity Association website electricity.ca
President and CEO
Canadian Electricity Association
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