Pyatt: Energy security is global security

Geoffrey R. Pyatt is the US assistant secretary for energy resources at the US Department of State. This essay is part of the Global Energy Agenda.

 
As assistant secretary of state for energy resources, my team and I focus on two key, complementary goals: energy security and energy transition.

In nine years as a US ambassador in Europe, I witnessed time and again Vladimir Putin’s use of energy as a tool of coercion. I saw it as ambassador to Greece when Russia cut off gas supplies to neighboring Bulgaria, and as ambassador to Ukraine when Russia tried to pressure Ukraine and the EU by altering gas transit, upending the reliable flow of energy.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine failed on the battlefield, Putin has unleashed a wave of brutal attacks against Ukrainian civilians and the energy infrastructure that keeps their lights on and their homes warm.

Ukraine’s power generation capacity has been degraded by almost 50 percent since February 2022. Despite this, Ukrainian energy workers, supported by a Group of Seven-plus (G7+) coalition, have done all they can to repair, restore, and harden the grid and generation facilities.

 
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