Abstract
The acceleration of economic development and rising standards of living have made energy security a top priority for policy makers worldwide. The issue of securing energy is particularly challenging for Jordan, which suffers from scarcity of natural resources, combined with the regional instability and conflicts. Based on desk research and on experts’ interviews, this study discusses the status quo of the energy sector in Jordan, its main challenges, and future aspirations. It thus contributes to the debate on how Jordan can ensure environmental, economic, social, and political sustainability of its energy sector. Jordan’s energy security has been historically linked to its relations with the neighboring countries and thus vulnerable to external shocks and outside political events. Notwithstanding reform efforts to reduce dependency from imports and some progress in diversifying the energy mix, energy security remains critical: the country imports around 94% of its energy, which represents approximately 10% of GDP. The growing domestic demand, which increases at a yearly rate of 3%, further adds to the pressure to envision strategies towards a more sustainable energy sector. These strategies will need to include investment in renewable energy, the reduction of energy consumption via increasing energy efficiency, and also synergic agreements with other countries. The interviewed experts highlighted the importance of governance for the successful implementation of these strategies. The creation of an enabling environment should go hand in hand with the involvement of all key stakeholders from energy and related sectors, into the development of a future vision of a sustainable energy sector.
Highlights
Securing and ensuring energy is a top priority for governments across the world, as energy is a key driver of economic development, allowing, for instance, water to be pumped throughout a country, industry to operate, transportation to work, and other key services to run
This study aims to answer the following overarching research question: how can Jordan move towards a sustainable energy security sector? Hereby, the focus will be put on identifying the main challenges and opportunities towards the transition, and on understanding potential conflicts hampering the settlement towards a more sustainable security of energy
An essential result is that interviewees unveiled several conflicts that are relevant to the energy sector in Jordan and that hamper the sustainability of energy security at different levels, conflicts that were not evident in the review of policies, governmental reports, and from the desk research
Summary
Securing and ensuring energy is a top priority for governments across the world, as energy is a key driver of economic development, allowing, for instance, water to be pumped throughout a country, industry to operate, transportation to work, and other key services to run. The International Energy Agency (IEA) defines energy security as “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price” [1] 112), so that the links between energy, security, and foreign policy became clear. Since and until recently, the concept of energy security was mostly related to securing access to oil and other fossil fuels [3]. Technological progress, increased diversification of the energy markets, climate change awareness, and modified global equilibria call for a more comprehensive operational definition of energy security. It is widely agreed in the literature that energy security “is a complex concept with multi-layered dimensions that interconnects different subject areas” [4] It is widely agreed in the literature that energy security “is a complex concept with multi-layered dimensions that interconnects different subject areas” [4] (p. 101)
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