Following the 41st G-7 leaders summit in Germany, the group of seven wealthiest advanced economies pledged to work together on energy sector cybersecurity, among several separate international issues.
“We will strengthen cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and launch a new cooperative effort on enhancing cybersecurity of the energy sector,” the group said when considering energy system vulnerabilities in the G-7 Leaders’ Declaration.
The group asked their respective Energy Ministers to enact the various initiatives discussed and the report back in 2016.
A White House fact sheet on the summit highlighted that the backbone of the energy sector is a network of electronic processes that assure energy is produced and distributed to the persons and infrastructure driving economies. “Cyber threats to these energy delivery systems are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Consequently, G-7 Leaders launched a new cooperative effort to enhance cybersecurity of the energy sector.”
The new effort is to include analysis of different approaches across the G-7; exchange of methodologies for identifying cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and best practices; and investment in cybersecurity capabilities and capacity building, the factsheet said.
This summit was held at the Schloss Elmau hotel in Krün, Germany. The leaders summit consists of the heads of state of the G-7 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Usually held annually between May and July, the next summit is scheduled to be in Japan in 2016.
Russia was added to the group, becoming the G-8 in 1998, but was suspended in 2014 in response to its annexation of Crimea.