In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, energy was used as a weapon. Today, the energy transition is being used as a defense.
Back then, both of us were serving as energy ministers and saw firsthand how quickly a pipeline could be turned into a shackle. It was a wake-up call that echoed across the globe. Almost overnight, countries that had long outsourced their energy security to autocrats found their supplies cut, and their economies shaken. The lesson was clear: Energy dependence is not just an economic vulnerability; it is a moral and security liability. As a result, the world learned a partial lesson about the weaponization of energy chokepoints.
Today the globe faces a second alarm. For weeks, the Strait of Hormuz has lurched between open and closed — mostly the latter — depending on the day’s escalation, underscoring how fragile a system built on global fossil fuel chokepoints has become. The question this time is not whether we understand the risk. It is whether we have the courage to act on the lessons we have already paid for in blood and treasure.
In the immediate aftermath of 2022, the world rushed to diversify its fuel suppliers. Germany built LNG terminals in record time; the US ramped up gas exports to stabilize its allies. These efforts worked — but only as a temporary shield. The reality is that as long as our economies are powered by global fossil fuel markets, we remain at the mercy of the world’s most volatile chokepoints. When the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted, prices rise in Michigan just as they do in Munich. Diversification can change who we buy from, but it cannot change the underlying risk.
What makes this moment different is that the solution is no longer waiting in a lab or a government subcommittee. It is happening on the rooftops of Lagos and the hillsides of Greece. We are seeing a fundamental shift from dependence on a supplier to independence through technology.
Take Pakistan, where a surge in adoption has moved solar from near-zero to a quarter of the electricity supply in just a few years. This wasn’t the result of a grand government mandate. It was driven by millions of individual decisions — families and business owners realizing that a solar panel is a declaration of independence from a volatile grid, and even more volatile global prices.
In Australia, one in three homes now sports rooftop solar technology. In Germany, the share of renewables in the electricity mix has jumped from 42% to 60% since the Ukraine war began. These aren’t just “green” milestones; they are structural fortifications. When energy is
produced where it is consumed, it cannot be intercepted, embargoed, or held for ransom.
The countries moving the fastest are those that have realized that energy security is now a race of speed over perfection. They are following a clear, urgent logic:
• Move fast and decentralize: Small-scale solar and storage systems are modular. They can be deployed in months, bypassing the decades-long permitting battles of massive infrastructure.
• The power of the people: When the economics of clean energy align with the needs of the citizen, the transition outpaces policy.
• Storage is the new strategic reserve: Just as we once built oil reserves, we must now build battery capacity. With costs dropping 80% over the last decade, storage is the missing link that turns intermittent weather into a steady, reliable heartbeat for the grid.
Some critics argue that the clean energy transition simply trades one dependency for another, shifting reliance from fossil fuels controlled by unstable actors to supply chains heavily concentrated in China. Others insist that increased US fossil fuel production has, for now, strengthened Washington’s hand and helped steady global markets.
But let’s be clear about what that strength is — and what it is not. It is a buffer, not a solution. Even the world’s largest producer cannot escape a globally priced commodity market. Fossil fuels tie every economy to the same fragile web of pipelines, tankers, and narrow straits. Clean energy begins to cut those ties. No nation can blockade sunlight. No cartel can embargo the wind.
The task now is to ensure that the technologies that harness those resources are as resilient as the resources themselves — by diversifying supply chains, investing in domestic manufacturing, and building stronger industrial partnerships among allies. The answer to overconcentration is not retreat. It is to build a system where no single country can dominate the energy future.
This is not just a climate story. It is a strategy for democracy and national sovereignty. Energy independence built on domestic, renewable power is more than just cleaner; it is inherently more peaceful. It removes the leverage of the bully and the power of the monopolist.
Our former colleague, Irish Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, once said that renewable energy may be “the greatest peace plan the world has ever known.” In the shadow of today’s disruptions, that is no longer a hopeful sentiment. It is a blueprint for a world where no nation has the power to turn out another’s lights.
Jennifer Granholm was US energy secretary from 2021 to 2025, and previously was governor of Michigan. Robert Habeck was Germany’s vice-chancellor and federal minister for economic affairs and climate action from 2021 to 2025.