Overview
- Speaking at the Green Growth Summit in Brussels on March 16, Simon Stiell said fossil fuel dependency is “ripping away national security and sovereignty.”
- He argued that sunlight and wind avoid vulnerable chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz and help insulate economies from price volatility.
- The Middle East conflict has driven oil and gas prices higher, with jet fuel and diesel supplies strained as Asian refiners cut runs and some producers restrict exports.
- Europe faces acute exposure to natural gas price spikes, and Stiell warned ministers that dependence on imports would keep the bloc “lurching from crisis to crisis.”
- Calling clean power a “multi-trillion-euro goldmine,” he noted renewables overtook coal for electricity in 2025 as policy responses diverge, from more coal in India and China to expanded nuclear and renewables in parts of North Asia.