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The G20 has been so prominent since 2009 because , in an era of tectonic economic rebalancing toward emerging markets , wider cooperation is necessary to conduct global economic management . Those broad economic shifts are naturally reflected in energy markets as well . Yet even as the G20 membership includes major energy consumers and producers of the new century , shifting patterns in consumption and production further complicate the broader trends .
The global energy map is not just shifting east - traditional producers like Saudi Arabia are seeing booming demand , while heavily consuming markets such as North America are experiencing production revolutions thanks to new techniques and technologies .
New trading patterns and technological advances also mean new scope for market integration and reform at the international level - creating a common incentive for market stability and investment promotion . Meanwhile , the most complex challenge , mitigating global climate change , looks particularly urgent as decarbonisation of the global energy system stalls , and the effects of climate change become ever more widely apparent . Facing these common economic and environmental challenges will require international energy cooperation at the highest level , as well as strong mandates for international energy governance structures . For all these reasons , energy will ride high at St . Petersburg , where ‘ Energy Sustainability ’ has a key spot on the agenda .
Now is the time to bring these policy priorities back in line with the scale of the challenge .
When it comes to climate change , all eyes are on the next round of multilateral negotiations , set to take place in Paris in 2015 . Already this year however , the stalling global effort to mitigate climate change passed a grim milestone , when carbon concentration in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million . This is uncharted territory in the history of modern humans . In short , we are drifting off-track , and still two years out from negotiations in Paris ( where no agreement can be guaranteed ).
Amid concerns over global economic pressures , climate change has quite frankly slipped to the back burner of policy priorities . But the problem is not going away - quite the opposite . Now is the time to bring these policy priorities back in line with the scale of the challenge .
Achieving secure and affordable energy supplies across the economy in support of prosperity can present the appearance of a false trade-off with environmental sustainability and climate change goals . The reality is that those challenges can be met simultaneously with policy , technology , and industry working together . Responsible unconventional gas extraction has substantially cut North American carbon emissions while delivering affordable energy to the market , and renewable energy technologies are becoming increasingly competitive . Yet