Energy fallout from Iran war signals a global wake-up call for renewable energy

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Energy fallout from Iran war signals a global wake-up call for renewable energy

[html]Wind turbines operate along a solar farm near Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province on March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

2026-03-20T04:09:42Z

                                       

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The war in Iran is exposing the world’s reliance on fragile fossil fuel routes, lending urgency to calls for hastening the shift to renewable energy.

Fighting has         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/ships-iran-oil-china-us-trump-hormuz-82a9acb473837f1bf7a821d0c3f95205">all but halted oil exports through the         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/hub/strait-of-hormuz">Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The disruption has jolted energy markets,         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-oil-prices-gasoline-economy-consumers-a5b47c09f83406adf2a00616382003f6">pushing up prices and         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-wars-energy-asia-gas-oil-f22739369eb36ccaf87543459cfed320">straining import-dependent economies.

Asia, where most of the oil was headed, has been         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-wars-energy-asia-gas-oil-8041a26142b8b7ce122c8b548f375924">hit hardest, but the disruptions also are a strain for Europe, where policymakers are looking for ways to cut energy demand, and for Africa, which is bracing for         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-africa-economy-oil-inflation-7decf5392c32718ae05a3d9d0b3906c0">rising fuel costs and inflation.

Unlike during previous oil shocks, renewable power is now competitive with fossil fuels in many places. More than 90% of new renewable power projects worldwide in 2024 were cheaper than fossil-fuel alternatives, according to the         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://www.irena.org/News/pressreleases/2025/Jul/91-Percent-of-New-Renewable-Projects-Now-Cheaper-Than-Fossil-Fuels-Alternatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Renewable Energy Agency.

   
       
   

Oil is used in many industries beyond generating electricity, such as fertilizer and plastics production. So most countries are         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-supply-chain-disruption-8f262bb210710b7509221a3dccf787c9">feeling the impact, while those with more renewable power are more insulated since renewables rely on domestic resources like sun and wind, not imported fuels.

“These crises regularly occur,” said James Bowen of the Australia-based consultancy, ReMap Research. “They are a feature, not a bug, of a fossil fuel-based energy system.”

   
       




   

China and India built renewable buffers, but China’s is larger

           
               
                   

   

       
   


       

       
     
   

   
   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   
       
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A worker stacks single solar cells at a ReNew manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

               
           
       
       
   

   
   
   


               
           
       

China and India, the world’s         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/india-worlds-largest-population-china-un-47bcd360aba6b7e3ecc4020702fa685f">two most populous countries, face the same challenge of generating enough electricity to power growth for over a billion people. Both have expanded renewable energy, but         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/wind-solar-energy-china-climate-carbon-emissions-b337503abfacfd9b7829fd7bbcd507e9">China did so on a far larger scale despite its continued reliance on coal-fired power.

   
   
       
           
               
   
   


   
   

       
   

           
       
   
   

Today China         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-renewable-energy-solar-wind-electricity-6d570ec401b6762453ec3af0ce973694">leads the world in renewables. About one in 10 cars in China are electric, found the International Energy Agency. It’s still the world’s largest importer of crude oil and the biggest         data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/china-russia-iran-oil-trump-trade-tariffs-a21b0d791007fe0984b38ae3c9087f26">buyer of Iranian oil. But electrifying parts of its economy with renewables has reduced its reliance on imports.

           
               
                   

   

       
   


       

       
     
   

   
   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   

   
       

   
       
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Attendees look at the electric Han EV sedan from Chinese automaker BYD during the Auto Shanghai 2023 show in Shanghai, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)