Despite a concerted trilateral push, efforts to increase North American energy cooperation have been held back by disagreements over pipeline construction, offshore drilling, and climate policy. However, as concerns over regional energy security grow, the US, Canada and Mexico are pursuing several areas of cooperation, including natural gas, smart grid technology, and low-carbon fuels. Today’s GR Insight analyzes hemispheric energy relations and the potential for collaboration in the future.

Due to the Labor Day Holiday, the next GR Energy and Climate Brief will be sent on September 9th, 2010.

Integration of the North American energy system is critical to the economic and energy security goals of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, but continuing cross-border investment could be impeded by disputes over pipeline construction, offshore drilling, and climate policy.  The three countries are well placed to help meet one another’s needs, with the US providing a large and vital market for Canada and Mexico’s unconventional and sulfur-heavy oil, as well as refining services to Mexico and natural gas to both of its neighbors.  The construction of new pipelines between Canada and the US, however, has become the center of controversy due to environmental concerns associated with oil sands development.  Cooperation between Mexico and the US, meanwhile, has become strained over several issues, including not only immigration and violence along the border, but also the future of offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for both countries.  Most importantly, with work on climate policy stalled in Canada and the US, charting a course for future energy strategies is filled with uncertainties.  Despite these setbacks, there are several opportunities for cooperation, including on natural gas, smart grid technology, and low-carbon fuels. In this GR Energy and Climate Brief, Garten Rothkopf looks at how the North American energy picture has changed in the past year, what opportunities for cooperation the current landscape presents, and what hurdles remain

Despite Major Opportunities, Obstacles to Increased Cooperation Remain

The past year has been marked by international indecision on climate change, prolonged economic stagnation in the industrialized world, and increasing concern over global resource scarcity.  As a result, countries have increasingly been focusing on energy and economic security at the expense of competing—often environmental—concerns.

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