As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine becomes more violent, an “energy calamity” is unfolding, warn JasonBordoff and OSullivanMeghan. They explain why weaning the world from fossil fuels must be part of the solution
of Ukraine becomes more violent, the world is on the cusp of what may become the worst energy crisis since the 1970s. Whereas those crises only involved oil, Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of nearly every form of energy—oil, natural gas, coal, and even the fuel used in nuclear power plants. The unfolding energy calamity demands an immediate response to keep cars moving, homes powered and heated, and to prevent a global recession induced by high energy prices.
American production was already going to grow this year, but there are limits to what the government can do to boost that further. Governments need to be ready to authorise the release of more oil from strategic stockpiles. But even a historically large release of, say, 100-200m barrels will not be a panacea as the crisis worsens, and as sanctions and the stigma of doing business with Russia increase.
Yet the world cannot ignore more immediate energy security needs in the process of making this transition. To do so emboldens petro-states like Russia and risks undermining climate action itself. If energy security and climate ambition come into conflict with one another, it is the climate that will lose out.
Second, we need to invest in enough hydrocarbon infrastructure to meet today’s energy needs, while minimising the extent to which such investments hinder a transition over the longer term. In Europe, for example, that will require investing in terminals and storage for liquefied natural gas and pipelines to import more sources of natural gas, as Germany recently announced it would do after abandoning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to import more Russian gas.
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