Let’s turn to the sun and wind for help

The latest turmoil in the Middle East has underscored a hard lesson: when nations rely on coal, oil, and gas, their security and prosperity hinge on events they cannot control. A single disruption can jolt global markets, strain household budgets, squeeze business margins, and push food prices to painful new heights.

In an era of raw power politics and increasingly frequent supply disruptions, the real cost of fossil fuel dependence is volatility. Energy prices soar, inflation follows, and families and small enterprises are left to pick up the tab. Aid groups warn that the cascade of shocks can deepen hunger worldwide, compounding the human toll of conflict and climate extremes.

Some insist the answer is to pump and burn more fossil fuels. That view ignores both economics and experience. When global politics are unstable, a system built on fuels shipped through vulnerable chokepoints will keep breaking. Doubling down on the cause of the problem only guarantees more crises ahead.

Fossil dependence is a volatility trap

Fossil energy ties national fortunes to narrow straits and fragile supply chains. It also heats the planet, loading the dice for megastorms, droughts, wildfires, and floods that destroy homes, farms, and infrastructure. Those impacts ricochet through supply chains and balance sheets in every country. Meanwhile, the fuels driving the problem still receive vast subsidies, distorting markets and delaying the inevitable transition.

Clean energy restores control

There is a better path: build energy systems that run on domestic resources—sun, wind, water, and efficiency—moved by modern grids and balanced by storage. Electrify transport and heating with clean technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps, expand public transit, and reserve low-emissions fuels for the toughest industrial uses. Sunshine and wind aren’t hostage to geopolitics.

• Shielding economies from price shocks: Homegrown renewables reduce exposure to global fuel swings and keep money circulating locally.
• Lower bills: In most regions, new utility-scale solar and wind are already the cheapest sources of electricity, and costs continue to fall.
• Health gains: Cleaner air cuts hospital visits and saves lives, delivering immediate benefits in cities and industrial belts.
• Jobs and industry: Clean power, storage, grid upgrades, and efficiency retrofits create skilled work and spur manufacturing in batteries, turbines, panels, and heat pumps.

The payoff is tangible. In one major market, the rapid adoption of electric vehicles is projected to avoid more than US$28 billion in oil imports annually—money that can instead fund infrastructure, education, and innovation at home.

Finance must flow to where it’s needed most

Global investment in clean energy surged past US$2 trillion last year—roughly twice the capital flowing to fossil fuels. Yet only a small fraction reached the most vulnerable developing economies. That mismatch slows progress and leaves communities exposed to both climate hazards and fuel price spikes.

Rebalancing finance is urgent and in every nation’s interest. In an interconnected world, climate disasters anywhere can disrupt supply chains and stoke inflation everywhere. A fairer flow of capital will accelerate emissions cuts, strengthen resilience, and stabilize prices.

• Cut the cost of capital: Multilateral and national development banks should expand guarantees, concessional lending, and local-currency financing to unlock private investment at affordable rates.
• De-risk projects: Clear policies—such as transparent permitting, stable tariffs, and grid access—reduce uncertainty and draw investment at scale.
• Build the backbone: Modernize and expand transmission and distribution, deploy storage, and digitize networks so clean power can reach homes and factories reliably.
• Invest in people: Workforce training, apprenticeship programs, and support for small businesses ensure local benefits and durable industries.
• Ensure a just transition: Regions reliant on fossil fuels need targeted support for diversification, social protection, and new economic engines.

Cooperation beats coercion

Geopolitical muscle can’t hold back heatwaves, floods, or failed harvests. International climate cooperation offers a different kind of security: fewer disasters, steadier prices, and shared prosperity. Global agreements have already shifted expectations, slashed the projected rise in temperatures compared with a decade ago, and turbocharged markets for clean technologies. Now the task is execution—tripling renewable power capacity and doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements this decade, while rapidly building grids and storage to match.

Speed matters. The earlier countries move, the larger the dividend: lower energy bills, cleaner air, new industries, and fewer climate losses. Every year of delay compounds risk and cost. Every gigawatt of clean power and kilometer of new transmission strengthens resilience against both price shocks and extreme weather.

A practical route to stability

Clean energy isn’t a luxury for calm times; it’s the toolkit for navigating turbulence. By replacing imported fuels with domestic resources, nations reclaim a measure of sovereignty. By slashing pollution, they protect public health. By investing in resilient infrastructure, they safeguard jobs and food systems. And by cooperating on finance and technology, they reduce the chances that the next crisis will spiral into a global emergency.

We have the technologies, the capital, and the know-how. What’s needed now is resolve: clear policies, swift permitting, modern grids, smart storage, and investment that reaches every region. Turning to the sun and wind is not just a climate strategy—it’s an economic security plan. The sooner we accelerate, the sooner families, farmers, and businesses everywhere will feel the relief.