World Energy Council launches new resilience report at IEFA Toronto Global Forum

Home > News & Views > World Energy Council launches new resilience report at IEFA Toronto Global Forum

< Back

Emerging physical, financial and virtual risks pose an ever-greater threat to the security and supply of energy.

A new World Energy Council report The Road to Resilience: Financing resilient energy infrastructure, launched at the IEFA Toronto Global Forum on 13 September by World Energy Secretary General, Christoph Frei, contends that energy systems must be smarter, not just stronger, to withstand diverse emerging risks and be more resilient.

It focuses on three critical emerging risks – extreme weather events, energy-water-food nexus and cyber threats. It provides an overview of the Road to Resilience series developed in collaboration with project partners Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Marsh & McLennan Companies .

Christoph Frei, said:

“With accelerating energy systems integration, resilience is no longer just about returning single assets to full operation after a disruptive event. When interdependent parts of a system are blacked out, the system as a whole is at risk of being deadlocked.

“The different risks to resilience have very distinct meaning and priorities in different regions. Yet the imperative to cope with these risks is a powerful catalyst for innovation with transformative global impact: innovation in technology, system design and management, cross-country and -value chain cooperation, the required policies and, last but not least, financing concepts. Securing the future investments to expand and transform the sector is the critical challenge ahead.”

The report finds:

Energy is the second-most water intensive industry after agriculture, with 98% of power supply dependent on the availability of water
Extreme weather events have increased by a factor four over the past thirty years. Frequent and severe weather events can affect energy infrastructure across the value chain, and often lead to higher demand
The sophistication and frequency of cyber-attacks is growing, and continues to keep energy leaders in Europe and North America awake at night. By 2018, the oil and gas industries could be spending US$1.87 billion each year on cyber security

The findings come just a month prior to the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul where high-level discussions exploring these energy resilience issues will be led by Satoru Katsuno, President and Chairman of Chubu Electric Power Company, and Juerg Trueb Managing Director, Environmental and Commodity Markets, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. They will look at the risks to the industry and, crucially, what policy solutions are needed to adjust to the ‘new normal’.

The road to resilience series features three deep dive reports: