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Ryszard M. Czarny The Nordic Dimension of Energy Security The Nordic Dimension of Energy Security Ryszard M. Czarny The Nordic Dimension of Energy Security Ryszard M. Czarny Katedra Krajów Europy Północnej Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego Kielce, Poland ISBN 978-3-030-37042-8 ISBN 978-3-030-37043-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37043-5 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my grandson, Harry Introduction In today’s world, a growing number of countries are at the peak of the industrial era, while a great many are entering the information technology era. “As we know, the essence of the industrial era is the domination in social activity of energy and material power factors, and the transformation of nature’s power embodied in the physical world into enhanced mechanical power. Therefore, we are objectively reliant and dependent on energy resources as they have become the prime mover and the driving force of contemporary civilization” (Koziej 2008, p. 2). Due to the growing demand for energy and the necessity of controlling its reserves, the issue of energy security has been given a prominent place and is strongly present not only in national energy and foreign policies of individual States but also in the European Union. Changes in climate observed throughout the world pose an additional risk to all, including the EU. As a result, energy security and climate protection have become a major issue and the main objective in the energy policies of the European Union and its Member States. A thorough and detailed analysis of overall energy demand, not only in the short term but also in a longer perspective, is invariably the point of departure for the development and implementation of a state’s policy to ensure energy security. It is therefore necessary to assess the energy balance and the energy demand of a given country. Usually, various data and forecasts come into play at this juncture, depend- ing on the method applied in drawing up the report. The very title of this publication suggests that nonrenewable energy will be the primary subject matter of interest. The reason for it is that the global context of the issue, on the basis of forecasts offered by the International Energy Agency,1 clearly indicates that the global development of energy until the year 2030 will continue to be based on and dominated by oil, gas, and coal. Although concentrating on energy fossil resources, the author is clearly mindful of the renewable sources of energy given that in the Nordic countries, they consti- tute a significant and systematically growing component of energy mix. At the same 1 For more details, see World Energy Outlook 2006, www.worldenergyoutlook.org/ vii viii Introduction time, renewable energy and its sustainable management, in the opinion of the Nordic States, is one of the key aspects in combating climate change and one of the most significant factors in human activities aimed at environmental protection. With the growing demand for heavy hydrocarbons, the problem of energy security has taken an increasingly prominent place in international politics. To this end, efforts must be made to reconcile these objectives with the need to protect the natural environment. The exemplary solutions offered by the Nordic countries within the field are noteworthy and definitely positive. They have become a standard model when with the end of the Cold War the perception of the Nordic Region underwent a significant change. Years before, we used to focus exclusively on the security policy, while today the issues of security and sovereignty have been broadened by economic development, environment protection, conditions of life, and cultural cooperation aspects. Positive developments in Northern Europe have been of extreme importance not only to Norway and other Nordic countries but also to the Russian Federation. The High North is considered to be an area of many unresolved disputes between States as regards maritime boundaries and fishing zones. It is also there that climate change impact is most visible. Moreover, it is in the High North that huge deposits of oil and natural gas are located. The author is well aware of the gravity of the High North in the broad sense prospects for development of the Nordic countries and its significance in the global context. With this in mind, in an attempt to respond to the need for a scholarly review of the High North as a phenomenon of the foreseeable future, I devoted a monograph to it titled The High North: Between Geography and Politics which was published in the year 2015.2 The book fully demonstrates the fact that this area of rapidly growing international significance and of interest to many countries will offer a real economic opportunity. One hopes also that as an area of competition – due to its natural resources – it will not turn into a hotbed of international conflicts. The above supposition may at any given moment dramatically change the perception of this part of the globe, the more so as currently energy raw materials seem more and more often to determine a nation’s potential power which is but a short step away from the temptation to use them as an instrument for political and economic pressure. The described situation – still fairly new – gives rise to new problems facing the countries of the North. One of them is undoubtedly energy security of the Nordic States directly related to, among others, energy resources. Some of these countries cannot even dream today of achieving energy self-sufficiency as they simply do not possess enough resources to ensure that. However, they can successfully increase their independence in the field by deepening cooperation with partner countries in the region, through building nuclear plants and through a wider use of renewable sources. Such an approach, however, is very expensive; hence, an increase in energy 2 See R. M. Czarny, The High North: Between Geography and Politics, Springer International Publishing Switzerland, Cham 2015. Introduction ix security may also be achieved by diversification of fuel types used and varying sources of their supply (various geographical locations, countries, and companies) as well as employed energy-related technologies. An introduction of actions and means used to achieve the goal, as well as a description of the current state and future energy potential of the individual Nordic States in terms of main available sources of energy, both nonrenewable and renewable, constitutes one of the most important parts of this book. Although the relevance of energy security of the Nordic countries does not lend itself to an entirely satisfactory scholarly examination of the issue due to the lack of time distance, the author has decided to tackle the problem focusing on the following topics: – The importance of energy security as a fundamental and natural task of public authorities of a state, particularly when energy and everything revolving around it constitutes a significant element of strategic policy discussion – General conditionality of resources and energy needs of the Nordic countries against the background of European and global energy balance – A particular role played by the Kingdom of Norway, the biggest Scandinavian exporter of energy raw materials, competing and cooperating with Russia in the High North – Courses of action undertaken by the States of Norden, faced with contemporary energy security challenges, with the emphasis on research, development, and implementation and the direct link between energy, environment protection, and climate change It is against this background that several much interesting problems and fairly imperative questions arise, out of which the most germane for the purpose of this work seem to be: – How to reconcile the current situation of some countries with the general need for a continuation of a clear and explicit policy on climate protection? – Do environmental/climate protection policies and courses of action actually open up a new range of possibilities and provide opportunities for further financ- ing of sustainable energy innovations? – What kind of financial initiatives are necessary to stimulate new ideas and innovations in the energy sector, and are Nordic companies engaged in them to a sufficient measure? These truly intriguing questions pose an intellectual challenge prompting one to attempt to position the countries of Norden within the sphere of multiple relevant opportunities and equally great unknowns. Moreover, this triggers a need for dis- cussing several issues, including, for example, determining the place of those countries not only within their own international environment but also in the new world order. Naturally, this must be followed with an exemplification of emerging opportunities and chances in the much complex sphere of interactions – cooperation and competition – which occur in the dynamic course of globalization processes. x Introduction The introduced and in reality constitutive themes concern both the political and economic spheres in which the activity of five countries of Northern Europe encom- passes cooperation with regional organizations and international projects, as well as the assessment of not necessarily identical points of view on the specificity of Norden’s contemporary problems. In practice, it heralds an analysis of true and real interests of those countries, aside from their political rhetoric, particularly since all those countries actually have considerable potential and ability for further growth in many sectors. I stay convinced that such an approach will enrich the knowledge about The Nordic Dimension of Energy Security. The monograph is not just an organized compendium of current data but primar- ily a set of analyses of much complex and evolving actions and efforts comprising foreign and security policy of these countries. Such an approach allows to examine the phenomenon, drawing attention not only to its internal Nordic dimension but also to its external aspect which might occasionally create barriers but at the same time presents an opportunity of making choices. The answers to the questions and concerns formulated this way are hopefully to be found in the overall structure of the book and the contents of each of the 11 chapters which represent author’s subjective preference in selection, order, and review of the subject matter. All of them jointly offer an overall picture of how the Nordics currently understand and perceive energy security, and this approach is supple- mented with a great deal of additional information, sources, and references. Each chapter is intended to enhance the body of knowledge on a given topic and to encourage readers to further studies of their particular interest. The content layout is tailored to meet the needs of the questing reader who is interested in legal, political, and economic determinants of security in international relations, including integra- tion processes in all their complexity. It is my hope and desire that such a perspective will allow the reader to identify the prevailing trends, set them in the current political and social context, and detect their connection with the present practices. The book draws from extensive literature on the subject, to a large degree on Scandinavian- and English-language sources. Alongside with monographs and scholarly articles, other works are referenced, including mostly expert reports published in the examined countries as well as those by international organizations (OECD, EU, IEA, ILO, World Bank, and others). Both empirical analyses and theo- retical literature have proved extremely useful in this work. Perhaps it should emphasized at this point that although foreign scholarly literature discusses multifaceted interests and transformations of Norden States in the first decades of the twenty-first century, it is somewhat lacking in narrowed-down comparative studies on energy security. This is especially true for case studies examining novel processes of power industry modernization in the Nordic States, the philosophy guiding their approach toward the aspect of power generation for sustainable development in comparison to other countries, as well as analyses of their cooperation and characteristic features in the regional configuration. Introduction xi This last last-mentioned theme is prevalent in the book and constitutes its core. In my opinion, the book belongs to the part of mainstream research, attempting to employ a holistic approach toward a group or regional activity and its characteristics as compared to the rest of Europe and the world. Nordic accomplishments and the introduced solutions should be referred to as often as possible to illustrate the best practices and exemplary models worthy of following by other countries. It is a pity that we so rarely notice the magnitude of transformations which have occurred in the countries of our northern neighbors within nearly two decades of the twenty-first century. Northern Europe has changed so much that from a scholarly point of view, we should not only look at current energy issues, alongside with cli- matic and ecological ones, and their relations with the politics and economies of Norden States but also endeavor to consider their practical solutions. I should like to express my gratitude to my nearest and dearest and to my friends and acquaintances who supported me in my work, offered invaluable advice, and extended assistance in drafting individual chapters of the book and found time and interest to review it critically in terms of its content and language. Bibliography Czarny RM (2015) High North: Between Geography and Politics. Springer International Publishing, Cham Koziej S (2008, April 24) Bezpieczeństwo energetyczne elementem większej całości. Paper pre- pared for the conference of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces: Bezpieczeństwo energetyczne – współczesny wymiar bezpieczeństwa międzynarodowego. Author’s archives. World Energy Outlook 2006. Retrieved from www.worldenergyoutlook.org/