GPPi and Brookings publish paper on transatlantic cooperation in addressing carbon emissions and oil price volatility

The Global Public Policy Institute and the Brookings Institution have written a new report titled Addressing Carbon Emissions and Oil Price Volatility: Challenges and Opportunities for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation. Released in February 2012, and authored by GPPi’s Wade Hoxtell and Andreas Goldthau, the report is the result of a two-year research and debate project called Common Goals – Different Approaches? Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation on Global Energy Issues. The project was funded by the European Commission.

The report addresses two crucial challenges for the EU and U.S. First, while the transatlantic partners promote broadly congruent goals and objectives in the context of global energy policy, at times they do not pull their end of the rope. The issue of climate change is one example. Americans and Europeans still promote fundamentally different goals and strategies in international climate negotiations. Transatlantic unity, while no longer a sufficient precondition for effective global solutions to emerge, is nonetheless of absolute necessity.

Second, joint transatlantic action is no longer sufficient to organize effective global energy governance. Even in the case that Europeans and Americans agree not just on goals but also on strategies to achieve such goals, their common weight, while still considerable, will not be enough to result in lasting policy solutions. New powers, especially the major emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, need to be brought into the mix. Thus far, the transatlantic partners have failed to effectively include these crucial new players in the global energy arena. This especially holds true regarding China, an increasingly important player in global energy.

Enhanced cooperation between the EU, the U.S. and China is therefore a prerequisite for more effectively addressing global energy challenges. Only through a shared understanding – not necessarily to be equated with an alignment of interests, but rather an increased awareness of, and the capacity to manage, divergences – can Europe and the United States succeed in contributing to designing effective global energy governance and help to include China as a joint stakeholder for effective global energy multilateralism.

This report addresses transatlantic commonalities and dividing lines in two key energy issue areas: mitigating carbon emissions and governing the global oil market. These issue areas are highly intertwined and a prerequisite for mitigating carbon emissions. This report sketches opportunities and constraints for the transatlantic alliance in exerting leadership and provides policy conclusions for addressing these challenges.

To read the report Addressing Carbon Emissions and Oil Price Volatility, click here.