The world’s political elite, including President Bush, are gathered at the annual G8 summit of industrialized nations in St. Petersburg, Russia. At the top of the meeting agenda is global energy security, exactly where it belongs. At the bottom of the agenda is global environmental protection, and that’s a grave mistake.
Gone are the days when our leaders could think of energy and economic development as separate from environmental stewardship. We now know that the ambitious goals of the Group of Eight leadership – whether in the areas of energy development or lessening disease and conflict – simply cannot be achieved without protecting the natural systems on which human health, prosperity and security depend.
That is the conclusion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a comprehensive and independent scientific study of the global environment conducted by more than 1,300 experts from around the world. It details how our well-being is closely tied to the health of the natural world and the food, fresh water, clean air and material goods it provides us.
And the assessment warns that most of the natural systems on which we depend are in decline because of development, pollution and over-exploitation. That will lead to a lower standard of living, hardship and conflict if allowed to continue. Nowhere is this truer than with the G8’s call for energy security.
At the G8 meeting, energy security is being framed as an issue of access to conventional fuels. But achieving energy security is not about tapping every last oil well or vein of coal on the planet. It is about moving beyond an addiction to fossil fuels that drives international politics in dangerous directions and is implicated in a host of serious environmental problems, especially the gathering storm of climate change.
Real energy security will come from a diverse array of renewable fuel sources, including solar, wind and biofuels such as ethanol. It will come from improved efficiency that will reduce demand for polluting fossil fuels. It will come from understanding how nature works, how it benefits us, and doing as little damage to it as possible as we strive to improve the quality of our lives.
We need new cooperation between the government and business at the national and international level to reach that goal. Business investment and know-how can bring modern energy services to the billions of people in developing countries that now lack them, especially in the booming economies of Asia. Government tax and trade policies can be better aligned to stimulate innovation in solving energy problems.
The G8 nations have the resources to orchestrate this kind of cooperation across national boundaries. Besides their political clout, they account for 49 percent of global exports and 51 percent of industrial output.
At the same time, G8 members bear the lion’s share of the responsibility for the problems we face. For example, the industrialized countries are home to just 15 percent of the world’s people, yet produce more than 75 percent of the carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming.
Better choices are emerging. The Energy Future Coalition, a nonpartisan alliance of business, labor and environmental groups, has shown how Americans can cut their oil consumption by three million barrels per day (the amount we now import from the Persian Gulf) by improving energy efficiency and boosting renewable fuels production.
There is good news in the capital markets as some of the same entrepreneurs who drove the technology boom are now investing millions in the promise of clean energy. But as is often the case, our political vision lags behind business and technological innovation.
The G8 should not forget that only last year it “resolved to take urgent action” to preserve the global environment. It should not falter.
The G8 needs to recognize what’s at stake and put environmental security at the top of the agenda with energy security, where it belongs.
Timothy E. Wirth is a former U.S. senator from Colorado and president of United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund.
