Renewable energies and their implications on security policy

The current structure of global energy consumption dominated by fossil fuels not only strongly impacts global climate, but also poses a number of security risks. Energy demand is rapidly increasing around the world - from industrialised to emerging countries. Thus, competition for strategic access to oil and gas deposits is becoming fierce.

An ecological transformation of energy supply systems is not only needed from an environmental perspective, but may also promote peace by diversifying the energy mix. This is one of the central outcomes of this project. The study also compared opportunities and risks of energy supply systems based on conventional and renewable energy sources regarding six topics (energy security, national security, defense, climate security, development, investments and financial markets).

The analysis suggested that energy supply systems based on renewable energy sources offer a number of advantages and may contribute not only in an ecological, social and economic way, but may also create a peacemaking effect. However, as the case of unregulated bio fuel expansion indicates, renewable energies can also trigger conflicts and tensions without the appropriate policy guidelines in place.