US wants to be united with European allies to ensure secure gas supply - Jennifer Granholm

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.23 By Leman Zeynalova – Trend: The US wants to be united with European allies to ensure secure gas supply this winter, Jennifer Granholm, the US Secretary of Energy, said during the special online briefing in response to Trend’s question. “The rise in gas prices here has raised as well serious concerns and questions on the reliability of the existing supply and security in Europe, and across administrations, the United States has been clear that we and our partners have to be prepared to continue to stand up when there are players who may be manipulating supply in order to benefit themselves. We want to be united with our European allies in ensuring that there is a solid, secure gas supply for this winter, even as we want to continue to invest and partner on solutions, energy solutions, that help to diversify. Obviously, that’s a little bit longer-term, and we must continue to do that in an aggressive way. But clearly, we want to all have our eye on the issue of any manipulation of gas prices by hoarding or the failure to produce adequate supply. So we are looking at this very seriously and we are united with our European allies in making sure you get adequate, affordable gas supply for this winter,” she said. Granholm noted that there is a moment of crisis. “President Biden said yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly, we are fast approaching a point of no return. You’ve seen explosive wildfires in Greece and in California and in Siberia, to across continents these heatwaves are unrelenting and only getting worse. And as the IPCC has warned, if we do not cut emissions quickly, these extreme weather events will continue to get worse. So we all must act, and we must act with urgency, and we must act with ambition. This is, though, a moment of opportunity as well. The crisis presents, actually, a market opportunity for carbon-reducing technologies. All of these countries have signed on to Paris Agreements and to aggressive and ambitious commitments, and that all requires products that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So those technologies will be a $23 trillion market by the end of this decade – $23 trillion dollars. That’s an enormous potential to countries on both sides of the Atlantic,” the secretary of energy said. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn