World Energy Cities Partnerships
The World Energy Cities Partnership (WECP) is a collaboration between 19 globally recognised ‘energy cities’ around the world. Perth is the only Australian member city and partners with:
- Aberdeen, Scotland UK
- Atyrau, Kazakhstan
- Barranquilla, Colombia
- Calgary, Canada
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Daqing, China
- Dongying, China
- Esbjerg, Denmark
- Halifax, Canada
- Houston, USA
- Karamay, China
- Kobe, Japan
- Luanda, Angola
- Stavanger, Norway
- St. John's, Canada
- Ulsan, Korea
- Villahermosa, Mexico.
The partnership is bound together by a cooperative agreement signed by the mayors of each city and is directed by an elected President and Vice-President, and supported by a secretariat office, which is based in Houston. Between 2009 and 2011, the City of Perth held the position which fostered a strong profile for Perth in the energy sector. Esbjerg, Denmark, currently holds the President position.
The partnership promotes the exchange of industry knowledge and economic development expertise and strategies between its member cities. It is important for each city to support its common task of encouraging the local energy sector.
In addition to city collaboration, the WECP provides a worldwide network of industry support services and resources, and serves to facilitate business-to-business interaction, the sharing of industry knowledge, contacts and experiences, and partnerships in energy-related activities. The organisation also facilitates trade missions for local businesses to travel to member cities and capitalise on business development opportunities.
The partnership also offers opportunities for exchange beyond the energy industry and the exploration of opportunities for mutual development in a variety of strategic areas such as energy-related technology, education, food processing and marketing, environmental technology, medicine and bio-science, and tourism development.
Benefits that have arisen from WECP membership include raising awareness and the profile of Perth and Western Australia, business development opportunities, international business networking, trade missions, joint projects and sharing of information.
The significance of City of Perth as a member
Western Australia is blessed with an extraordinary natural endowment of mineral and petroleum resources and is one of the world’s most diverse and productive mineral regions.
Perth is renowned as an international centre of excellence in the field of mining technology and mining services. Western Australia has also developed as a global hub for scientific and technological innovation in the oil and gas sector in the areas of subsea exploration and production technologies, marine services, petroleum-related research, Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) and geophysical surveying.
Perth is the preferred location for company headquarters with over a third of all Australian Stock Exchange listed companies based in Perth, almost 80 per cent of these operating in the energy and resources sector, including Chevron, Woodside and Shell.
On a global scale, Western Australia produced 37% of the global supply of iron ore in 2021, making it the largest in the world. Iron ore is the State’s highest value commodity at $157 billion. Western Australia is also the largest supplier of lithium in the world at 52% in 2021.
Western Australia was responsible for approximately 12% of global LNG exports and exported 44 million tonnes of LNG in 2021. These exports from Western Australia also accounted for 56% of Australia’s total LNG exports in 2021.
On a national level, Western Australia produced all of Australia’s lithium, cobalt, and rare earths in 2021 and most of the nation’s nickel (99%), petroleum (crude oil and condensate - 78%), alumina (70%) and gold (68%).
