Collaborate on energy security or be vulnerable, Britain tells global meeting

LONDON: Britain urged closer international cooperation to improve energy security on Thursday, telling dozens of other governments and business leaders that they would otherwise be vulnerable to those who were willing to weaponise supplies.

Security of energy supply shot up the agenda of countries around the world after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 drove up global prices and pushed the EU to curb its reliance on Russian fuels.

“Energy security is national security... We will step up and make energy a source, not of vulnerability, but of strength,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during a two-day energy security meeting in London.

“As long as energy can be weaponised against us our countries and our citizens are vulnerable and exposed,” Britain’s energy minister Ed Miliband said.

They were joined at the meeting organised by the British government and the International Energy Agency by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as representatives of some 60 governments and around 50 energy industry leaders.

Von der Leyen said in the next two weeks the European Commission will publish its plan to phase out imports of Russian fossil fuels, which it had pledged to do by 2027 following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.