BRUSSELS: The Iran war is “supercharging” the world’s shift to renewable energy, as countries scramble to reduce their exposure to volatile oil and gas markets, the UN climate secretary said on Thursday.
The US-Israeli war with Iran has upended oil and gas supplies, prompting some countries to ration fuel and others to roll out subsidies and tax cuts to shield consumers from surging prices.
Early signs indicate the war, which began two months ago, is speeding up some countries’ low-carbon transition. Demand for rooftop solar systems across Europe has surged, while countries including Pakistan have reported a jump in electric vehicle sales. Chinese President Xi Jinping called this month to speed up the construction of a new energy system to safeguard energy security, emphasising hydropower development and the expansion of nuclear power.
“Those who’ve fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom,” said Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN’s climate secretariat UNFCCC.
“Renewables offer safer, cheaper, cleaner energy that can’t be held captive by narrow shipping straits, or global conflicts,” Stiell told a meeting of government officials at the International Energy Agency in Paris. However, the war has also prompted some nations to increase the use of highly polluting coal or furnace oil-based power generation as they struggle to replace gas from the Middle East.
Turkiye’s Climate Minister Murat Kurum — who will preside over the UN’s COP31 climate summit this year — said fossil fuel dependency now topped the global political agenda.
“The best way to protect citizens from the violent convulsions of global energy markets is to accelerate the clean-energy transition,” he said in a statement after the IEA event. Around 60 governments including Brazil, Germany, Canada and Nigeria, met in Colombia this week for a summit to discuss how to phase out fossil fuels.
Conference hosts Colombia and the Netherlands said on Thursday countries had agreed to continue working, over the next year, on how to do this in their trade systems.
