A new energy security ranking shows six G20 countries at high risk
G20 members USA, China, Germany, France, Italy and South Korea, have been categorised as high risk countries according to the Energy Security Index released by Maplecroft.
A number of other European nations including Belgium, Finland and Slovakia fall into the extreme risk category because of their high dependence on imported energy.
But the ranking, which covers 209 countries, also revealed five G20 countries (Australia, Indonesia, Russia, Canada, Saudi Arabia) in the bottom 25, i.e. least at risk.
Alyson Warhurst, founding director of Maplecroft, said: ‘This ranking shows the growing importance for countries to reduce overall energy consumption and to diversify away from a reliance on non-renewable energy sources. We are seeing nations become increasingly reliant on imports to fulfil their energy needs and this makes them vulnerable in terms of their energy security.’
Four key areas of energy security were measured to create the index and ranking:
1. Availability of domestic oil, gas and coal supplies
2. Dependence of each country on oil and gas and the diversity of energy sources used
3. Fossil fuel consumption and the oil and gas dependency of a country’s economy
4. Reliance of each country on imported oil, gas, coal and electricity and the security of the sources
