MB Civic

[Ian’s note: They just don’t get it…]

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

STRELNA, Russia, July 16 — The world leaders at a Group of 8 summit meeting on Sunday issued a communiqué on energy policy that touched lightly on alternatives to fossil fuels, like biomass and wind power, but focused mostly on how to bring more oil to the market.

President Bush and the other leaders — from Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada — produced statements on corruption, trade and protection for copyrights and patents at a meeting that was overshadowed by the violence this weekend in Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip.

On energy, the Group of 8 leaders said they were addressing “high and volatile” prices, with oil soaring above $75 a barrel last week, by endorsing policies to encourage oil field investment and raise production. They said that demand for oil, natural gas and coal would rise more than 50 percent above current levels by 2030, and that these fossil fuels would constitute 80 percent of the world’s energy supply by then.

Still, few concrete measures to control prices emerged from Sunday’s talks in this town near St. Petersburg, reflecting the divergent interests of the countries here.

The final statement called for “investment in all stages of energy supply” and “transparency and good governance in the energy sector,” but suggested no requirements on countries to make that happen.

A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, conceded that the language seemed directed against Moscow’s consolidation of its oil and natural gas industry under state control. Still, all countries, including Russia, agreed to the statement.

To dampen world oil prices, the Group of 8 members agreed to push oil-producing countries to be more open with data on reserves, or how much oil remains in the ground, an initiative put on the agenda by Russia.

The group endorsed efforts by the Paris-based International Energy Agency to prepare for a possible world oil shock with a plan to coordinate the release of the Group of 8 countries’ emergency reserves, like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the United States.

On the environment, the statement praised the Kyoto Protocol as a tool to discourage energy waste and greenhouse gas emissions — but only for those who have ratified the document, an acknowledgment that the United States had rejected the treaty.

“It is important to engage the private sector and other stakeholders in achieving these ends,” the statement said, reflecting the Bush administration’s preferred approach to climate change.

The Group of 8 leaders said countries producing oil and other fossil fuels should open their energy industries to outside investment, crack down on corruption and prevent waste such as burning natural gas at oil fields, a practice called flaring that is widespread in Siberia.

The statement said the Group of 8 members “support the principles” of the Energy Charter, a treaty intended to integrate the energy industry in former Soviet countries with Europe. Russia has signed the document, but it has not been ratified by Parliament, and the wording of the statement left unanswered questions of access to Russia’s natural gas export pipelines for independent companies or third countries.

Russia, acting as host of the Group of 8 for the first time, chose energy security as a focus of the meeting, a nod to the oil-fueled economic comeback here eight years after a severe economic crisis.

When Russia briefly placed an embargo on natural gas supplies to Ukraine in January, however, European leaders and the International Energy Agency questioned the security of Russia’s own supplies.

The leaders adopted separate statements condemning piracy of intellectual property and counterfeiting of brand-name products, suggesting that each member country set up a Web site with information for patent and trademark holders on legal methods to defend their rights.

They issued a statement supporting the Doha round of trade talks, a largely stalled effort by developing countries to level the playing field with rich nations on trade by opening markets in agricultural goods.

The leaders also issued statements on education and infectious diseases, especially avian flu.

On corruption, the Group of 8’s statement was a follow-up to an initiative begun by the British prime minister, Tony Blair, to encourage oil and mining companies to disclose to the public their royalty payments to Third World governments — to help ensure that the money shows up later in those countries’ budgets.

The program, called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, has produced mixed results.