The world of energy is undergoing significant changes. Governments and market participants more then ever face the need to develop adequate responses to the multiple challenges facing the energy sector. As any other international arrangement, the framework which the Energy Charter established to promote long-term cooperation in the energy field needs to ascertain that its rules and instruments live up to contemporary requirements.
Since 2007, the members of the Energy Charter Conference have used the temporary forum provided by the Ad Hoc Strategy Group to discuss new challenges in the energy sector and possible responses within the Energy Charter Process. In particular, they have started discussing the global balance between producers and consumers of energy, the increasing role of cross-border trade and transit of energy, the huge investment needs, the increasing importance of measures to promote energy efficiency or the impact of measures to mitigate global climate change on the energy sector, with a specific focus on the role of the Energy Charter Process.