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The Club of Madrid organization just released final statement offers practical recommendations to advance an agenda of sustainable, affordable, secure energy for all

The Club of Madrid issued Monday an urgent call for action focusing on the escalating risks posed by current energy trends. The Club’s Members formulated a set of recommendations (attached:PDF/FINAL STATEMENT OF CLUB DE MADRID V GENERAL ASSEMBLY.pdf) to address these energy challenges, placing special attention on the role democratic leaders can play in this field. These proposals are the result of two days of debates that took place within the framework of the V General Assembly and Annual Conference of the Club of Madrid "The Challenges of Energy and Democratic Leadership", which concluded yesterday at the Spanish Senate.

Once again the Club of Madrid brought together nearly 100 Members, sitting policymakers and scholars to discuss the vulnerabilities of energy supply, the growth of energy demand, the phenomenon of global warming caused by human activity and the levels of energy poverty, with the aim of identifying concrete responses to address these problems. The statement strongly affirms that what is lacking is the political will of leaders and citizens to face up to these truths and take action.

Stating that the world’s current energy system is unsustainable and condemning the fact that supply is increasingly under the control of state authorities often lacking in transparency or accountability and tempted to abuse the resources they control to suppress democratic development both nationally and abroad, the Club of Madrid calls on democratic leaders to act with courage to support defenders of democracy and human rights in such authoritarian societies.

Based on the understanding that energy resources have to be managed wisely, the organization noted that one of the greatest challenges faced by all resource-rich countries is precisely the administration of these resources and the wealth they produce to ensure that the benefits reach all sectors of society. To this regard, the CoM commends the establishment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and calls on all States to endorse and implement its standards as quickly as possible.

Considering the impending climate change crisis, the Club of Madrid’s final statement affirms the need for bold political leadership and immediate action. The document states that energy is a public good and calls for urgent attention to ensure that all world citizens obtain affordable and clean energy.

During the closing conclusions plenary yesterday afternoon, the importance of democratic leadership in the formulation of energy policy was highlighted. The conference has established the foundations for the Club of Madrid to continue working in this field and to “dream with pragmatic democratic responses to energy challenges”, as stated by Jorge I. Domínguez, Club of Madrid advisor.

“Access to energy for all citizens” was a phrase constantly heard at the conference, as well as the need for greater and more efficient dialogue between producers and consumers. Within the context of today’s energy crisis, participants stressed the need of taking the political dimension of these challenges adequately into account, giving it ordinate weight in the international agenda.

The presentation of the Conference’s working group conclusions was followed by a final round table on “Climate Change, Energy and Democratic Leadership”, introduced by former President of Costa Rica and member of the CoM, José María Figueres and a trailer of Al Gore’s recent movie on climate change,: In a brief, couple of minutes the audience was introduced to shocking images of the earth and the impact of climate change. Panellist Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union spoke about the “uncertainty” experienced by both energy producers and consumers and the change experienced in the energy model in the last few years due to the growing demand of countries like China or India. To solve the energy question Solana spoke about the need for greater and improved dialogue between rich consuming countries and producers; the review of energy costs and its various components; the use of energy as a political instrument; the development of alternative energies and two of the main issues that must be dealt with in the consideration of the latter -uranium enrichment and proliferation. “Cheap energy is over”, Solana stated, “and the energetic issue today is directly related to peace and war.”

The conference was closed by former President of Chile and President of the Club of Madrid, Ricardo Lagos, who firmly asserted “we know the tasks, now it is the time to take action. This is a task that the Club of Madrid, an organization made up of 67 democratic former Heads of State and Government, has taken on a commitment to share with current world leaders their ideas on how, in the field of energy, we can all work towards a better world.”

The Club of Madrid met last week, 30 former Heads of State and Government, along with more than 100 representatives from international organizations, expert practitioners and scholars, met during the Club of Madrid’s V Annual Conference to analyze today’s energy challenges and their relation with democratic leadership.

The Meeting counted with the participation of representatives from international organizations such as the U.N., the World Bank, OECD, Inernational IDEA, the International Energy Agency, the International Energy Forum, the Energy Charter, the Arab League, UNDP and OPEC, as well as NGOs like EITI, the Crisis Group, OXFAM, FRIDE and Real Instituto Elcano, Industry representatives from STATOIL, REPSOL, and a number of scholars from different centers, all of whom have stressed the importance and urgency of the energy challenges being faced and the need for a global commitment to find solutions and put them in practice.

The Club of Madrid is an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 67 democratic former Heads of State and Government. In partnership with other organizations and governments that share its democracy-promotion goals, the Club of Madrid provides peer to peer counsel, strategic support and technical advice to leaders and institutions working towards democratic transition and consolidation. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

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