Originally from Investment Protection and The Energy Charter Treaty

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Anne Houtman
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to have the occasion to speak to you today and I congratulate the organisers of this most timely event.

The task I have been given this morning is to make some introductory remarks, to help set the scene for today’s proceedings. I am not a lawyer, but that is perhaps an advantage, because it means I can concentrate on the more general context, which is nonetheless very important.

What is very interesting is that the topic of today’s conference cuts across three key areas: investment protection, dispute settlement, and energy. Virtually every human and economic activity requires energy, and its extraction, production, transportation, distribution and use require all pervasive and sophisticated infrastructures, that is, huge amounts of investment. Energy is essential for our society. But the natural endowment of the world with energy resources is far from even. The European Community for example currently imports about 50% of its energy needs. In a business as usual scenario, this figure could grow to an estimated 65% to 70% by 2030, with oil dependency then at 90% and gas at 80%. This means a huge import bill for the Community which will increase of course with increasing energy prices. It also means a great vulnerability on external supplies, and the more so if our sources are not sufficiently diversified.

In addition, when hydrocarbons give up their chemical energy, they create carbon dioxide, adding to greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to climate change. Thus energy production and use present a series of major challenges: huge investment requirements; the cost and security of energy supplies; and about 80% of man-made CO2 emissions.