Renewable energy is emerging as a potential major beneficiary of the Trump administration’s policies. That’s the ironic consequence of miscalculations surrounding the war in Iran.
Economist Paul Krugman has dubbed Donald Trump ironically as the “hero of renewable energy” because of the implications of the US-Israel war on Iran. He said it makes the case for nations worldwide to seek energy independence through wind, solar and nuclear power, and underlines the importance of countries reducing their vulnerability to any future US or other actions on energy.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, told the Associated Press that “homegrown renewable energy has never been cheaper, more accessible, or more scalable. The resources of the clean energy era cannot be blockaded or weaponised”.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said in an oil market report on March 12 that the war “is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”. It estimates that shipments of 20 million barrels per day of oil through the Strait of Hormuz has been cut to almost nothing.
According to E3G, an independent climate change think tank, the crisis “reinforces the structural vulnerability of the fossil fuel system”, noting that “disruptions in a few strategic corridors can rapidly translate into global price shocks, geopolitical leverage and macroeconomic instability”.
This month, Paul Domjan, founder of UK energy innovation company ENODA, said that renewable energy was the only kind of resource that could lead to energy security, citing its domestic production and distribution, and relative insulation from global prices.
Chatham House, the international affairs think tank, said in an analysis last week that US energy prices were already set to rise long before the war against Iran, pointing to factors such as rising power demand from data centres.
All in all, the war is exacerbating and sharpening already significant global energy trends and priorities. The results could be transformative – in totally unexpected directions.
