Oil crisis’ silver lining

The Supreme Court announced over a week ago that it would hold its April summer sessions in its En Banc Session Hall in Manila instead of, as is traditional, in its summer house in Baguio City due to rising fuel prices. According to a report by GMA News, the court wants to remain mindful of the current crisis brought about by the conflict in the Middle East, the country’s main source of fuel, while ensuring the steady delivery of justice.

Yesterday, it was also reported in this paper that Cebu City would still host some ASEAN Summit-related activities this May despite disruptions to energy supplies and government resources, although on a scaled-down scale. Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival said the adjustment was due to rising costs amid the ongoing Middle East crisis.

In schools, some students have also been requesting that classes be held online instead of face-to-face to save on fare or gasoline expenses. All these developments reflect a common response: cost-cutting and savings measures brought about by rising costs and the uncertainty of this crisis.

That may be our immediate concern, but it is also the most opportune time to think seriously about how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel from the Middle East and move toward energy independence. Our overdependence on Middle East oil is like staking our most vital source of energy on a store run by a family whose members are constantly quarrelling among themselves.

It is not just a matter of the need to save money at a time of crisis that caught everyone by surprise and for which many were perhaps unprepared. This crisis reveals how vulnerable we are because of our energy dependence on the Middle East. The most important lesson, therefore, goes beyond the cost-cutting measures we are adopting these days. If anything, this is a compelling case for renewable energy and for a truly serious transition toward a more secure and independent energy future.

Over a week ago, DW News, a German news outlet, featured a report entitled “Is the Iran war making a case for renewables?” The report argues that the current conflict involving Iran has exposed how fragile the world’s energy system remains because so much of it still depends on fossil fuels supplied by Middle Eastern states historically wracked by conflict. It also notes that around 80% of global energy still comes from fossil fuels and that major chokepoints, especially the Strait of Hormuz, make the global economy vulnerable to disruption.

Today’s crisis is indeed a strong case for accelerating the development and advancement of renewable sources of energy. The report says that renewables are not only cleaner, but can also provide cheaper, more decentralized, and more secure energy over the long term.

It is a case of staying committed to long-term decarbonization, which has now become even more urgent because a heavily centralized sourcing of energy is a recipe not only for conflict in the states that produce it, but also for economic disaster and a lack of motivation to innovate in the states that depend on it.

The silver lining in the Middle East crisis may be that it gives us an even stronger reason to shift to renewable energy, a transition now more possible than ever because, unlike during the 1979 oil crisis, renewable technologies today are cheaper, more advanced, easier to install and, in many cases, even more economical than opening new fossil fuel supply lines.