Iran War Is ‘Supercharging’ the Energy Transition, UNFCCC Says

By David Stringer (Bloomberg) — The Iran war is accelerating a shift toward renewable energy as governments race to reduce supply-chain vulnerabilities, according to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell.

“Those who’ve fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom,” Stiell said in Paris at a high-level meeting between United Nations climate officials and the International Energy Agency to help prepare for the COP31 summit later this year.

Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the soaring price of oil and gas has forced governments across the globe to rethink their energy security policies. Earlier this month, the IEA said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has already “thoroughly upended” the global outlook for oil consumption, as demand shows signs of permanently shifting to other sources of energy. 

The shock delivered by the Iran war is accelerating a trend that was already underway, Stiell said. 

“Last year, clean energy investment was set to be double that of fossil fuels,” he said. “Renewables offer safer, cheaper, cleaner energy that can’t be held captive by narrow shipping straits, or global conflicts.”

There are now “so many governments [that] are pushing renewables plans into overdrive: to restore national security, economic stability, competitiveness, policy autonomy and basic sovereignty,” he said.

Others have made similar observations. Pressure on consumers from higher fuel and electricity prices could help drive the shift over to cleaner energy, according to Australia’s former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

“Let us seize the opportunity presented by what is now unfolding in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz and — frankly — the shock which working people across the world are now experiencing in terms of continued hydrocarbon dependency,” Rudd said on Monday in Melbourne, speaking via video link from Hong Kong. 

“They are experiencing the physical terror of becoming insecure in their supply of what they need to drive to work,” he said.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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