Energy & Energy Security

SPECIAL WEBCAST: Special Envoy to the EU C. Boyden Gray discusses climate change developments and U.S. policy in a webcast the week of the April 16-18 Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change in Paris.

2008: Press Briefing on Major Economies Meeting by White House's Connaughton (Apr 18, 2008) | State’s Bryza Briefs on Energy Security in Eurasian Region (Mar 26, 2008) | Media Roundtable with Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Bryza on Energy Security (Feb 22, 2008) | Renewable Resources Are Rising Stars (Mar 5, 2008) (Bush Remarks) | Fact Sheet: Investment in Renewable and Alternative Energy Technologies | Pictures/Summaries | State's Negroponte Discusses Energy Security, Climate at Renewables Conference (Mar 4, 2008) | U.S. Officials Discuss Transatlantic Economic Ties, Climate Change in Berlin (Feb 26, 2008) | Special Envoy Gray Discusses Major Economies Meeting on Climate Change (Feb 1, 2008) | State's Volker on the Transatlantic Energy Challenge -- Security, Prosperity, Climate (Feb 1, 2008) | Increasing U.S. Energy Security and Confronting Climate Change (State of the Union Fact Sheet, Jan 28, 2008) | White House's Connaughton Reviews International Climate Change Negotiations in Senate Hearing (Jan 24, 2008)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner addressed the U.S.-EU Energy Technology CEO Forum in Washington, D.C. on March 19. The forum, which was hosted by Secretary Rice, brought together senior American, German and European Union government officials and private sector leaders who focus on energy technology. The purpose of the meeting was to stimulate a discussion between the government and the private sector from each side of the Atlantic to accelerate the innovation and adoption of new energy technology. The forum aimed to draw on the collective insights and leadership of the members to provide recommendations and to identify possible initiatives on technology innovation and adoption including energy production, energy storage, transportation, transportation fuels and energy efficiency.

2007: Statement by President Bush on Energy Security and Climate Change (Nov 26, 2007) | President Bush Participates in Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change (Oct 1, 2007) | Rice Addresses Leaders on Energy Security, Climate Change (Sep 28, 2007) | Fact Sheet (Sep 28, 2007) | U.S. Hosts Major Economies Meeting on Energy, Climate Change (Sep 27, 2007) | G8 Summit Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Efficiency (Jun 8, 2007) | Energy Agency Plans International Carbon Sequestration Workshop (Apr 17, 2007) | U.S. Uniquely Positioned To Lead International Energy Dialogue (Mar 26, 2007) | Secretary Rice, EU Officials Speak at U.S.-EU Energy CEO Forum (Mar 19, 2007) | Energy Secretary Bodman Discusses Bush Energy Plan (Jan 24, 2007) | Amb. Gray Discusses U.S.-EU Economic Issues after Bush, Barroso, Merkel Meetings (Jan 9, 2007)

President Bush and German Chancellor Merkel hold a joint press conference at the White House on Janauary 4, 2007. White House photo by Paul Morse. After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House on January 4, President Bush said he has been “going full steam ahead” in promoting new technologies designed to promote energy efficiency and that he is committed to “do a better job of protecting the world's environment.” Germany, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency, will also host the 2007 Group of Eight (G8) summit, and Merkel said there she plans to discuss economic growth and its relation to climate change. “On the one hand, we obviously need economic growth. But on the other hand, a reduction, also, of greenhouse gases,” she said. The German chancellor said she was delighted that the United States is ready to work with the Europeans on the issue. “We were at one on this,” she said, adding there is “a wide scope for further talks” on the issue of energy efficiency, including cooperation on biofuels and new technologies.

Bush Optimistic on Achieving WTO Trade Deal (Jan 5, 2007)

Raymond L. Orbach, Under Secretary for Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), on November 21 joined counterparts from China, the EU, India, Japan, Russian and the Republic of Korea in Paris, France, to sign an agreement to build the international fusion energy project known as ITER. “The energy that powers the stars is moving closer to becoming a new source of energy for the Earth through the technology represented by ITER,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. “The ITER members represent over half of the world’s population. The U.S. is proud to be part of this partnership, and to join in the pursuit of nuclear fusion as a source of clean, safe, renewable and commercially deployable energy for the future.”

Department of Energy Press Release

2006: U.S. and EU Renew Agreement on International Energy Efficiency (Dec 20, 2006) | United States Signs International Fusion Energy Agreement (Nov 22, 2006) (Department of Energy Press Release)

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union C. Boyden Gray participated in the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Sustainable Development in Helsinki, Finland, on October 24-25, 2006. The U.S. and the EU agreed at their June 2006 Summit in Vienna to hold this dialogue to build on existing transatlantic initiatives and further advance the G-8 Gleneagles Plan of Action for Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development, which was approved last year. At the Helsinki meeting, EU and U.S. delegations highlighted the substantial and growing level of U.S.-European collaboration and explored areas for further work. Discussion topics included policies and measures to promote low greenhouse gas emission technologies; cleaner energy; cleaner and more efficient vehicles; and biodiversity loss.

The EU and U.S., which will hold the next High-Level meeting in 2007 in the United States, agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation to:

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula J. Dobriansky (c.), Under Secretary David of Energy K. Garman (l.) and Finland's Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam (r.) during the press conference at the conclusion of the EU-U.S. meeting on energy, climate and sustainable development issues in Helsinki, Finland, on 25 October 2006. Photo: Finnish Prime Minister's Office/Lehtikuva * Promote the commercial deployment of clean coal and carbon sequestration technologies, including through the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum;
* Promote energy efficiency, particularly in the transportation sector and for buildings and appliances;
* Enhance methane recovery including through the Methane-to-Markets Partnership;
* Research, develop and deploy second-generation biofuels;
* Overcome barriers to the use of renewable energy sources and biofuels, including through the development of international standards;
* Address global biodiversity loss through natural resource conservation and other joint efforts; and
* Enhance energy access for sustainable development.

White House's Connaughton Discusses Environmental, Energy Issues in Germany (Oct 27, 2006) | EU, U.S. to Continue Climate, Energy and Sustainable Development Dialogue (Oct 25, 2006) (Finnish Presidency webpage) | U.S., EC To Hold First High-Level Dialogue on Energy, Development, Climate (Oct 20, 2006)

The United States believes that expanded competition through new commercially developed pipelines, especially in the Caspian region, will provide economic efficiency and more stable supplies of oil and natural gas in Europe. Citing a major increase of oil production in Kazakhstan as just one example of recent developments in the European energy market, Matthew Bryza, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, reinforced U.S. support of new and expanded oil and natural gas pipelines in the region. Describing the European natural gas market as “dysfunctional,” Bryza on October 17 stressed the need for increased competition, particularly through the building of more pipelines for oil and natural gas. He made his remarks during a conference co-sponsored by the Center for Transatlantic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the Center for European Policy. According to Bryza, the United States, along with other countries, is working hard to develop investment schemes to stimulate more public-private energy partnerships in the Europe and Eurasia region because “at the end of the day, private companies have to do it.” Therefore, he said, the projects backed by governments “have to make commercial sense.”

U.S. Supports New Generation of Pipelines in Europe (Oct 18, 2006) | G8 Supports Open, Efficient, Competitive Energy Markets (Jul 16, 2006) | U.S. Seeks Energy Security Through International Partnerships (Jul 6, 2006) | Germany Joins Methane to Markets Partnership (Jul 6, 2006) | U.S.-European Cooperation on Energy Focus of Webchat (Jun 30, 2006) | Caspian Region Crucial for Europe's Energy Needs, U.S. Says (Jun 30, 2006) | U.S.-EU Summit Declaration (Jun 21, 2006)

Officials from the United States, China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation initialed an agreement May 24 to build ITER, an international fusion energy project. Fusion -- the energy source of the Earth’s sun and other stars -- has the potential to become a long-range option for clean energy, but the use of fusion as a controllable energy source is still in the experimental stages. In a fusion reaction, the nuclei, or centers, of two light atoms -- those with fewer numbers of protons and neutrons -- fuse together to form heavier atoms and release large amounts of energy in the process. A more familiar energy-generating process is nuclear fission, in which heavy atoms like uranium are split apart, releasing the internal energy that holds the atom together. Fission energy is used commercially around the world to generate about 16 percent of the world’s electricity, according to the World Nuclear Association.

United States, International Partners Initial Fusion Energy Pact (May 24, 2006) | State's Wayne Discusses the Global Challenge of Energy Security (May 22, 2006) (video and audio of event) | Bush Visit to Vienna in June To Focus on U.S.-EU Issues (May 19, 2006) (Volker Transcript)| United States Proposes Global Plan To Encourage Nuclear Energy (Feb 8, 2006) | U.S. Trade Development Agency Funds Romanian Power Upgrades (Jan 25, 2006)

"In addressing important priorities for developing nations and the long-term risk of global climate change, the policies and objectives that the United States and Europe share far outweigh any differences we may have," wrote Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman James Connaughton in February 2005. "The common U.S.-European agenda has led to many achievements. In 2001, we launched the Generation IV International Forum, which works with European nations to develop the next generation of nuclear power, which will be safer, more affordable, and more proliferation-resistant. Last July, Italy and Britain joined America in starting the Methane to Markets Partnership, which enables developing countries to capture and profitably re-use methane waste. Through the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum and the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, the United States and Europe are striving to perfect carbon capture and storage, and make hydrogen fuel cell vehicles commercially available by 2020."

2005: Experimental Fusion Reactor To Be Built in France (Jun 28, 2005) | Russia Should Act Responsibly in Dispute with Ukraine, Rice Says (Jan 5, 2006) | Focus on Results in Expanding Energy Access, United States Urges (Dec 15, 2005) | Energy Department Holds Solar Energy-Saving Competition (Oct 4, 2005) | United States, Germany Convene Panel on Energy, Climate Change (Aug 19, 2005) | G8 Offers Action Plan for Cleaner, More Efficient Energy (Jul 8, 2005) | Bush Administration Advances Next-Generation Nuclear Energy (Feb 28, 2005) | U.S., Europe Share Goals on Climate Change, Energy Efficiency (Feb 23, 2005)