Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 04/2009

Long-Term Energy Security Risks for Europe: A Sector-Specific Approach

Arianna Checchi, Arno Behrens, Christian Egenhofer

January 2009

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to identify and evaluate existing and potential EU energy supply risks on the basis of a sector-specific approach. Moving away from common generalisations on security of energy supply as well as from those studies that focus only on one sector, it brings together all types of fuel and analyses the risks related to each of them. The result is a comprehensive picture of the energy security challenges faced by the EU in the long-term. The paper can be seen as a tool to avoid overlapping, incoherence and contradictions in the process of assessing security of supply and aims to formulate a consistent and more unified European energy policy.