| 摘要: | Energy is vital for economic development, national security, and the livelihood of people. The present paper investigates the energy situation not only from the supply and demand pictures, but also its inter-connection with economy, environment, geo-politics, and national power. It is recognized that, to address the energy policy and its security for the European Union (EU), it is necessary to assess it from the global view, in particular, the strategic relations with the supreme global power, the United States of America. There is no doubt that the most important environmental regulation relevant to energy today and for the futures to come is the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. All industrialized nations are committed to reduce Green House Gases (GHG) by 5.2% during 2008-2012 as compared to their individual level in 1990. Among the industrialized nations, the European Union (EU) governments and environmentalists spearheaded the protocol, but the USA and Australia rejected the protocol and its compulsory restrictions. As an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, the United States led Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea to form an Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APPCDC). The partnership focuses on voluntary practical measures taken by these six countries in the Asia-Pacific region to create new investment opportunities, build local capacity, and remove barriers to the introduction of clean, more efficient technologies. To ease the competition and conflict between EU and US on energy policies and to call for cooperation on dealing with global challenges, a EU-USA Summit was held in Vienna on June 21, 2006. Joint US and EU leaders, pledged alliance on foreign policies, energy, economy and trade. On energy, leaders agreed to strengthen EU-US strategic cooperation on advancing principles of good practices in energy markets, improving ways to meet the challenge of climate change and energy security. It may be realized that while the EU has an economy almost equal to the size and prosperity of the United States, it does not have the global power to ensure its energy security. Strategically, EU needs the cooperation and support of the United States on energy issues. |
