Reducing Uncertainty Through a Systemic Risk-Management Approach

Problems of energy security (ES) and climate change mitigation (CCM) are inextricably connected and form complex and unstructured problems (see Chapter 9), the solution of which is hard if not impossible to accommodate by conventional structures of governance. This chapter offers an attempt at describing and operationalising possible governance strategies for ES by following the iterative types of knowledge production to reduce both the normative and the factual uncertainty characterising ES. First, we present an argument on how a systemic approach to ES can unfold in a conceptual perspective and help reduce its normative ambiguity. Second, we present an account of how this conceptual account relates to empirical and factual uncertainties. Finally, we discuss how the systemic integration of ES issues are connected to the strengths and weaknesses of specific governance activities, which each have particular strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis specific elements of systemic ES.