The use of clean fuels – natural gas and nuclear energy – should be actively encouraged. Although nuclear energy has an uncertain future in North America and Western Europe, it is becoming an important part of the energy equation in East Asia, and will in any case have a notable role to play in maintaining energy security in the 21st century. As to gas, given the hazards of its long-distance overland transportation, it is very important to set up an international working group on the protection of the world's gas pipelines.
The time to address these and other related challenges is now, not once a crisis has erupted. National energy policies of North America, Europe and Japan will surely vary according to national circumstances, yet they can very well combine to serve the collective needs of the international system.