Keynote Proposal 3

• Deputy Executive Director, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE)

Energy consumption in Asia, particularly in China and India, will grow strongly over the foreseeable future, underpinned by sustained expansion in economic output and population dynamics. This will continue to create challenges for China and India themselves and, because of the scale of these economies, will have multiple implications for global energy markets and other global issues. Internally, ensuring that energy supplies are adequate to meet demand will be a key challenge and will require a range of approaches, including reforms to energy pricing and regulatory structures to ensure that there is an appropriate level of investment in energy supply and that energy conservation opportunities are exploited. One of the major external issues flowing from the rising energy demand in China and India is the call it is likely to make on international energy markets and the resulting implications for international resource security. A further major challenge will be managing the environmental consequences of the growth in energy demand. For China and India, local environmental issues will be paramount but there are obvious global consequences as well from the increased emissions of greenhouse gases, not just from these countries but from all major emitters. These are not issues that China and India can tackle alone but will require international collaboration and partnership to achieve the best global outcomes.