No energy security without climate security

This brief prepared by the WWF for the 2006 G8 meeting in St. Petersburg argues that energy security is interlinked with climate change. The brief argues that “secure energy” should be based on overriding priorities of: reducing carbon emissions and contributing to curbing climate changekeeping intact earth's carrying capacity and avoiding impacts on biodiversity, water flows and other natural systemsavoiding relying on long and vulnerable lines of supplybeing supplied from a variety of different sourcesbeing based on equitable arrangements that do contribute to social, political or economic stability and predictability.This WWF brief urges the G8 nations to embark on a serious global ‘climate and energy security plan’ which would aim at dramatically augment energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources within the next five years. This plan would include:promoting, investing in and regulating for energy efficiency measures continuing to develop and subscribe to the policy and market instruments – such as caps and carbon markets – that promote the switch to low carbon, diversified energy sources creating better opportunities for all new, renewable and clean energy resources by redirecting subsidies from conventional to clean fuelsencouraging the uptake of clean and renewable energies by legislating medium- and long term quantitative targets for renewable energiesrecognising that nuclear energy is one of the most uneconomic energy technologies and that it carries a special class of risks centred on safety, waste disposal and weapons proliferationrecognising the value of highly efficient natural gas as a transition fuel to a secure, sustainable, zero carbon energy futureregarding carbon capture and storage as having a potential contribution to make ensuring that all coal and gas power plants are zero-emission.