UK to host global energy security summit next year

LONDON, Aug 10 (AFP): Britain will host an international energy security summit next year, the government announced on Thursday, inviting big oil-producing nations and companies but focusing also on net zero.
The London Energy Security Conference, set for early 2024, will concentrate on shoring up supplies and making the system "more resilient to shocks", the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said.
The gathering will come two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine upended gas supplies and sent wholesale prices spiralling, and as countries grapple with the transition away from fossil fuels.
"Energy security does not stop at our borders," Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
"Our landmark... conference will bring together international governments and industry leaders to help rewire the global energy system and build collective resilience."
Shapps told Politico the event would be "inclusive" and major Middle Eastern fossil fuel producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates should be "in the room".
Russia will not be invited, the outlet reported, though he noted London had not "got to the detail of invitations at this stage".
The announcement comes with the UK's environmental credentials under increasing scrutiny, as the country's worst cost-of-living crisis in decades and electoral politics threaten to slow its decarbonisation push.