Opportunities for Fossil Fuel Importers to Cooperate on the Energy Transition

As oil and gas demand peaks and declines, importers will be exposed to increased volatility in fossil fuel markets, facing choices between cooperation and competition. Producer power will increasingly concentrate among the more competitive government-owned oil and gas companies. These governments are well organized within OPEC. The US plays a role as the world’s largest oil and gas producer as well. Importers are currently divided between, in very general terms, the geopolitical East and West, and Global North and South, yet face common issues of supply and demand volatility as well as energy security and access. These divides have become more acute with recent conditions of volatility and geopolitical competition. These common challenges that importers face are under explored, and importers have yet to come together in diplomatic spaces on the common benefits of demand reduction, principles of equity, and cooperative responses in crisis moments.

E3G and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security are exploring the creation of an informal track 2 dialogue that can raise these opportunities in climate, energy, and geopolitical diplomatic spaces. This dialogue would aim to:

• Identify areas of alignment among importing countries in transitioning away from oil and gas.
• Propose ways for importing countries to cooperate on transitioning away from oil and gas.
• Examine how alignment and cooperation among importing countries can shift the geopolitics of oil and gas towards accelerated transition.