Energy, Climate Change & Comprehensive Security in the EU-Russia-US relations

Energy security is typically understood as either security of supply (“EU perspective”) or security of demand (“Russian perspective”). The lecture will discuss future relations between the EU, Russia as well as the USA via the prisms of spatialities, geoeconomics and commodity chains of different energy sources in the EU – Russia energy constellation. Changing global climate is the contextual factor that compels to incorporate the perspective of comprehensive security into the traditional energy-security considerations, but it also opens avenues for mutually beneficial foreign relations. The lecture ponders possibilities to move from the asymmetric “energy as a weapon” perspective to a symmetric “energy as a tie“.

Structure of the lecture:

• Energy security perspectives in EU – Russia energy trade (EU, Russia, USA)
• Spatialities of energy and societal development
• Climate change and comprehensive security
• Promoting responsibilities along energy commodity chains via symmetric energy relations
• Certified flows of energy enhance mutually beneficial (energy) futures and foreign relations

Veli-Pekka TYNKKYNEN, Associate Professor in Russian environmental studies at Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, will participate in the discussion as a speaker. He is also an adjunct professor in Russian energy and natural-resource policy, The Finnish National Defence University. He leads several academic research projects and a team of 14 researchers that focus on energy and environmental policies; energy security; energy, societal power and culture in Russia and the post-socialist space.

We are looking forward to meeting with you at the lecture.