World Energy Outlook 2007

increasing need for oil and gas. The IEA’s energy supplies will only be secure if
those to China and India are too, and vice versa. And there can be no effective
long-term solution to the threat of climate change without bringing China and
India – along with other major energy consumers – into a global agreement.
Effective implementation of the IEA countries’ own policies and measures
aimed at addressing energy-security and climate-change concerns is essential,
but far from sufficient.
Enhanced co-operation between IEA and emerging economies generally could
contribute to meeting both these goals. It could also bring broader economic
benefits to IEA countries by facilitating exports of advanced energy
technology. Similarly, China and India would garner the benefits to economic
growth of enhanced collective energy security and smaller changes in climate.
China and India could also boost their exports of the innovative energy
technologies that are being developed to address their domestic energy
challenges.
IEA countries have long recognised the advantages of co-operation with China
and India, and this is reflected in a range of co-operative activities between the
IEA and China and India, together with other multilateral and bilateral
agreements. China and India, in turn, recognise the benefits they can derive
from such co-operation and have generally responded in a highly positive
manner to IEA overtures. Both countries take very seriously the threat to their
energy security and the costs of worsening local pollution caused by rising
fossil-fuel use. They also recognise the long-term threat posed by climate
change. The imperative to step up this co-operation will increase with the rising
importance of China and India in global energy markets and the growing
threats posed to energy security and the global climate. As part of its broad
programme of outreach activities with non-member countries, the IEA
continues to deepen its dialogue and strengthen collaborative activities with
both countries (Box 6.1). 4
Emergency preparedness is an important focus of IEA co-operation with both
China and India. Both countries are developing emergency oil stocks
(see Chapter 4). The IEA has made available information and has shared its
experience about creating and using such stocks and intends to co-ordinate
future emergency-response policies. The IEA established co-operative
programmes on oil and energy security with China in 2001 and with India in
2004. Within these programmes, emergency-response simulation exercises for
oil-supply disruptions were organised with participants from China, India and
south-east Asian countries in 2002 and 2004. They have been invited to
6
4. At present, a country must be a member of the OECD before it may apply for membership of the
IEA. More details about IEA’s outreach activities with China and India can be found at
www.iea.org/Textbase/work/2006/gb/.
Chapter 6 - Energy Policy Ramifications 231