Transatlantic Cooperation for Sustainable Energy Security

April 1, 2009

We are in a decisive interval for the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community and the 32 member states that belong to either the European Union and/or NATO. Traditional concerns—security, economic, political, and societal—have become increasingly bundled into circumstances that cannot be addressed by any nation alone, however powerful, or any single institution, however influential. Under such circumstances, capabilities, too, need to be bundled for use through a comprehensive approach that combines hard and soft power into smart power, as well as the states and institutions that can best provide or even share them. Americans and Europeans must work together to develop these comprehensive approaches to today's challenges, and thus ensure that tomorrow's solutions are effective for them and the rest of the world.

It is with this belief that the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geopolitics at CSIS launched the Global Dialogue between the European Union and the United States in early 2008. The project examines five broad issues that represent serious challenges for the states of the Euro-Atlantic community but lend themselves especially well to ever-closer relations, consultation, and cooperation between the European Union and the United States. The present report addresses the risks of energy scarcity and strategies for sustainable energy security. Specifically, it reviews the key characteristics of energy markets, recent European and U.S. policy developments, and transatlantic actions to achieve energy security.