Recent events in the Middle East have led to a global oil crisis not seen since the 1970s. As should have been predicted, Trump’s ill-advised attack on Iran resulted in the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil normally flows.
At the time of writing, the US administration has reacted by placing a blockade on Iranian ports, a reaction that has hardly improved matters.
The destabilising effect of the burning of fossil fuels on our climate has been known for many years and efforts to transition to cleaner energy technologies have been under way for some time.
In a rational world, one might have expected the current oil crisis to hasten this transition. As Antonio Gutierrez, secretary general of the United Nations, recently put it, “our addiction to fossil fuels is destabilising both the climate and global security”.
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Sadly, the current crisis has had the opposite effect. In the first instance, many countries with domestic oil reserves have reconsidered drilling in the interests of “energy security”.
Of course, there is nothing secure about the burning of yet more fossil fuels, but it seems short-term national interests trump long-term global safety concerns.
[ When the crisis is caused by oil dependence, the solution isn’t cheaper oilOpens in new window ]
Secondly, the soaring price of oil and gas generates windfall profits for fossil fuel companies. Much of this bounty flows back into the industry, facilitating more exploration and extraction, locking us into fossil fuel extraction for years to come.
Thirdly, as the blockade has also reduced the flow of liquefied natural gas (LNG), countries such as India and China are now reversing efforts to burn less coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, in order to make up the shortfall.
All in all, where one might have expected a new oil crisis to generate political momentum for the transition to renewables globally, the opposite has happened.
The obvious solution is a cessation of hostilities. However, the considerations above will hardly concern the current US administration.
Donald Trump considers the climate crisis a “hoax”. He accepted record donations from fossil fuel companies during his last election campaign and has acted at every turn to increase oil extraction since his re-election, while simultaneously de-incentivising efforts to transition to renewable energies.
Most recently, his administration paid the French company TotalEnergies $1 billion to abandon the construction of two big US offshore wind farms and pursue fossil fuel projects instead.
In Ireland, the fuel crisis led to widespread street protests and blockades, unprecedented scenes more reminiscent of Paris than of Irish cities and towns. As protesters pointed out, up to 65 per cent of the price of fuel at the pump goes on tax in this country, and a sharp increase in the global price of fuel generates a windfall tax that could be used to alleviate the pain of consumers.
This argument found some sympathy with politicians and the wider public and resulted in significant concessions in the taxing of fuel.
[ Price of our dependence on fossil fuels is becoming clear yet againOpens in new window ]
However, such solutions can only be short term and the protests did not bode well for the future.
What was disturbing was the hostile focus, yet again, on Ireland’s carbon tax. This tax is important because monies generated from it are ring-fenced to facilitate the transition to clean energy, a vital transition given Ireland’s heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Time and again, the tax is portrayed by populist politicians and industry lobbyists as a hare-brained scheme of the Greens; in fact, it is a crucial measure to safeguard our energy future.
The great irony is that Ireland, unlucky in the fossil fuel stakes, is perfectly positioned to take advantage of renewable energy technologies such as offshore wind energy.
Yet, in contrast with countries such as Denmark and Spain, we have been very slow to exploit our natural advantage. Indeed, Ireland has only ever had one offshore wind farm, which is being decommissioned, while a handful of other offshore projects are mired in the planning process.
If nothing else, the crisis in the Middle East should provide some impetus to reduce Ireland’s dependence on imported fossil fuels. It is high time we took advantage of our geographical location and accelerated the development of clean energy technologies.
In this aspect, the outcome of the current oil crisis could be very different from that of the 1970s.
Dr Cormac O’Raifeartaigh is a senior lecturer in physics at the South East Technological University in Waterford and a fellow of the Institute of Physics
