Lost Opportunities on Energy at the G8

This one is from the Globe and Mail:

Nothing better illustrates the limits of the G8’s power than yesterday’s call for petroleum suppliers to boost production and refinery capacity. In a world in which the demand for oil increasingly exceeds the supply, that exhortation is only a bromide, unlikely to persuade oil-producing nations such as Nigeria or Venezuela to raise their output and drive down their prices. The eight developed countries, including resource-rich Canada and Russia, which are already increasing capacity, may express “strong concern” about high commodity prices. But yesterday’s summit statement resorted to a clichéd call for more energy efficiency and alternative sources of energy. (…) The lesson from this G8 summit is that the developed nations should concentrate on what they can do together to protect their economies in these difficult times. But if they cannot agree on why energy prices are high, they can only issue platitudes. Their bland and unimaginative energy statement is a lost opportunity.