WEC insight could support the next phase of the Energy Charter

WEC recommendations on rules of trade and energy sustainability provide sound basis for updating the Energy Charter, said Einari Kisel, WEC Senior Fellow, at a ministerial conference.

 

 

 

Mr Kisel made the remarks on 27 November at the Energy Charter Conference in Warsaw, where the Energy Charter’s 51 member governments from Europe and Asia adopted a historic decision to modernise the 1991 accord.

“The WEC Rules of Trade paper highlights the main areas where the international trade rules for energy goods and services should be improved,” Kisel told the conference.

“Issues around intellectual property rights, universal access to environmental goods and services, global policy measures for climate change, and reasonable border measures for fairer energy trade are the key topics to be addressed to encourage the investments into a more sustainable energy future.”

The World Energy Trilemma report highlights the priority areas for energy policy development and sets the focus for policymakers, he added.

The Energy Charter is the multilateral declaration giving foundation to the legally binding 1994 Energy Charter Treaty. The Charter provides a framework for international energy cooperation based on open, competitive markets and sustainable development.

At the Warsaw conference member governments agreed to update the Charter to reflect the realities of an increasingly globalised energy world, which now goes beyond the traditional link between western Europe and former Soviet countries to new regions of the globe.