The effective closure from the Iran war of the Strait of Hormuz—the critical chokepoint for roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas—is in its fifth week with no clear signs of resolving. For Asia, which buys more than 80% of the crude and LNG that flows through the narrow waterway, the consequences have been swift: severe fuel shortages, export bans, and government budgets stretched to the breaking point.
The crisis is forcing Asia to look both backward and forward simultaneously. In the short term, governments are returning to coal—the dirtiest of fossil fuels—to keep the lights on. In the long term, the supply shock may accelerate nuclear restarts and electric vehicle adoption faster than years of climate policy ever managed.
