Clean tech key for energy security, critical minerals growing risk – IEA

International cooperation is crucial to ensure energy security, with the expansion of clean energy technologies as a key element going forward, said government representatives from around the world at a summit in London. However, “different national pathways should be respected,” cautioned UK energy secretary Ed Miliband at the meeting on “The Future of Energy Security”, organised by his government and the International Energy Agency (IEA).

IEA head Fatih Birol highlighted that “no country small or big is an energy island” – even though some can meet their entire energy demand through domestic resources – as the world was connected through its markets and prices, as well as things like technological advances. Birol said that there are traditional and new energy security risks. Oil and gas are key pillars of the world’s energy mix and will remain so for years to come, so their distribution and supply remains crucial, he said.

Distribution of critical raw materials present a key emerging challenge for energy security, said Birol. “Home-grown energy is the best friend of energy security, but to produce and manufacture the necessary clean energy technologies we need critical minerals.” Very few countries dominate the extraction or processing of many of these critical minerals, with China a major force.

With the energy crisis starting in 2021, exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine, energy security has become a key priority for countries in the EU. Russia’s weaponisation of gas deliveries was a stark reminder for countries like Germany on how a heavy dependence on just one or very few suppliers can quickly turn sour. Finding alternatives during the crisis came at high costs, which hit energy-intensive industries especially hard.

The move to renewable energy is widely considered key to buttressing energy security especially for countries that lack fossil fuel resources. Accelerating the transition to largely domestically produced sustainable energy such as wind and solar electricity is the only way to ensure energy security in Europe, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) found in a recent report.

In the run-up to the London summit, energy think tank Ember said that almost three quarters of the global population live in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels, which still make up a large part of countries’ energy mixes. Germany, for example, has to import almost all of the oil, gas and hard coal it uses. The only notable remaining domestic fossil fuel is lignite in the country which has massively ramped up renewables for decades and aims to become climate neutral by 2045.

Ember highlighted that while fossil fuels must continuously be imported, representing a recurring cost for countries, renewable technologies such as solar panels or wind turbines are a one-off investment that could supply energy for decades.