OEA - CIDI - Resolución CIDI INF 701

ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

Inter-American Council for Integral Development

(CIDI)

OEA/Ser.W CIDI/INF.701/26 4 February 2026

Original: English

REMARKS BY THE DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, MARK LAMBRIDES

DELIVERED DURING THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (CIDI), HELD ON JANUARY 30, 2026 [ Overview – Energy Security Challenges in the Americas]REMARKS BY THE DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, MARK LAMBRIDES DELIVERED DURING THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (CIDI), HELD ON JANUARY 30, 2026 [ Overview – Energy Security Challenges in the Americas] Good morning. I welcome the opportunity to share some brief remarks on the topic of energy security in the Americas. As Ambassador Lanza has indicated, the proposed workplan for CIDI during the first semester of 2026 will consider key aspects of energy in the Americas. I have been asked to provide a few remarks to help frame the discussion as it relates to the strategic context of energy security in the Americas. We should begin by asking, what is energy security? Energy security is a complex theme that relates to the reliability, resilience and sustainability of energy supplies. For policy makers, energy security concerns vary widely and include: the stability of fossil fuel prices; the availability of energy resources, both and resources; the impact of energy production on the local and global environment; and the susceptibility of energy infrastructure to acts of violence, cyber threats and natural disasters. T he availability and reliability of cost-effective energy supplies impacts directly many aspects of a country’s social and economic development, including jobs and poverty alleviation, private sector modernization, and the balance of trade. Energy security can

therefore be defined as a nation’s ability to supply reliable and affordable energy to meet the energy demand and to promote sustainable development. Let’s consider Energy Natural Resources in the Americas. It is generally recognized that the countries of the Americas have the potential to deliver sufficient energy to meet their current energy demands by exploiting the diversity of fossil fuel and renewable energy resources at their disposal. The Americas is a region endowed with abundant natural resources for energy production. For example, Venezuela, Canada and the USA contain among the top 10 oil reserves in the world. The USA, Canada, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, and Brazil are all amongst the world’s top 30 producers of natural gas. Renewable energy resources – wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal - are abundant throughout the Americas. Latin America is a global leader in the use of renewables to generate electricity. The region produces over 65% of its electricity from renewable sources, with hydropower representing much of that at over 45% of the total. While electricity generation has expanded to meet demand over the past decades, so too has the extension of power grids throughout the region, including many cross-border interconnections such as the Central American Power Grid (SIEPAC), along with power grid connections between Mexico and the US, the US and Canada, and many bilateral connections in South America. Regional electricity interconnections are in development throughout South America including in the Andean region (SINEA), Southern Cone (SIESUR), and Northern South America (Arco Norte). Interconnection between islands of the Caribbean continues to be studied. With this infrastructure development, the availability of modern electricity has grown from less than 50% of households in LAC in 1970 to about 98% of homes with access to electricity today.- 2We must also remember that energy includes transportation services such as cars and trucks, airplanes, trains and ships. All of these are essential for our commerce, trade, and human mobility. We can also consider the important energy services for our industries. Whether fueled by electricity or fossil fuels, we need energy to manufacture products, build our cities and work our farms.

trains and ships. All of these are essential for our commerce, trade, and human mobility. We can also consider the important energy services for our industries. Whether fueled by electricity or fossil fuels, we need energy to manufacture products, build our cities and work our farms. Despite much of the progress made over the past decades to expand access and delivery of modern energy services, the Americas remains vulnerable to supply disruption threats. Some of the threats that are most notable include: Natural disasters such as earthquakes and extreme weather events (hurricanes, drought, forest fires and floods) represent a diverse and persistent threat to achieving and maintaining a secure energy infrastructure. These events can disrupt petroleum supply exploration and distribution and damage the energy production and distribution infrastructure that ultimately influence the socio-economic development of impacted countries. Recently, Jamaica, which despite having electrification rates of near 100%, saw over half a million customers lose power, and nearly a month later, 30% of the country was still without power. Lack of rainfall also poses a threat, as with the severe droughts which caused power outages in multiple countries of the region, including Ecuador over the past two years. Other critical threats to energy security include:  Managing access to oil and gas through development and trade. The critical role of fossil fuels makes reliability and price stability critical for development.  Managing threats from terrorism and cyber-attacks. Such threats are on the rise and given the increased importance of computer and AI management of our power systems and transportation networks, it will be important for the region to work together to help mitigate these growing threats. In response to the many energy security challenges, hemispheric energy cooperation, interdependence, and integration could be enhanced and encouraged as a means of facilitating the development of energy for economic development within the Americas. Among other strategies proposed for enhancing energy security are:

 Building smart infrastructure to increase resilience of generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity systems, as well as fossil fuel supply and delivery networks.  A focus on sustainable development, access and trade of critical minerals throughout the Americas.  Continued focus on the energy transition including the diversification of energy resources and increased energy efficiency.  Collaboration among countries and with international finance to invest in energy security measures and enhanced protection of the critical infrastructure. Many of these subjects with be at the center of the discussions in CIDI over the next six months. SEDI is prepared to support the member states through CIDI in consideration of critical energy security challenges. As all of you are aware, over the past fifteen years, through the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), the GS/OAS has focused on supporting the clean energy transition in the Americas.- 3By many accounts, ECPA has been highly successful in its mission and with considerable inputs from other multi-lateral development institutions sustainable energy solutions have expanded considerably, Latin America and the Caribbean electricity access rates increased dramatically, and electricity interconnections have expanded. ECPA is currently unfunded and on hold. However, as I have described at previous CIDI meetings and at the Seventh CIDS meeting held on October 14, 2025, chaired by Minister Michael Halkitis from the Government of The Bahamas, it has been proposed that a new partnership – the Energy and Security Partnership of the Americas (ESPA) - be established to address the evolving energy landscape and better serve the member states in addressing these challenges. I look forward to working closely with Ambassador Lanza over this next semester, so that we can frame the monthly CIDI meetings to delve into the most pressing issues facing the Americas in the energy security arena. These conversations will be critical in the design and preparation for the establishment of ESPA. And with the collaboration of all member states, we hope that this will lead to the launch of the ESPA partnership by June of this year. Thank you for the opportunity to address CIDI this morning.