“Fossil fuel dependency is ripping away national security and sovereignty, and replacing them with subservience and rising costs,” warns Simon Stiell, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, as the Green Growth Summit in Brussels begins today (16 March).
Electricity and gas prices have been spiralling since the onset of the war on Iran on 28 February, exposing the vulnerability of nations still reliant on fuel imports from the Middle East. Much of the price volatility is down to Iran attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a 38km passage that carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies.
