As recent events in Venezuela show, we are witnessing fossil fuels once again acting as upstream drivers of instability, repression, and conflict. Fossil fuel price shocks fuel wars abroad and inflation at home. Dependence on volatile energy markets leaves economies brittle, exposed to sudden cost-of-living crises and the political backlash that follows.

From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the latest U.S. action in Venezuela, control over fossil resources repeatedly triggers confrontation. Much of the world’s oil and gas lies beneath politically fragile states, turning energy supply into a permanent geopolitical chokehold. In this system, fossil fuel interests benefit from chaos, weak accountability, and militarized solutions, while ordinary people pay the price through higher costs, lost security, and the erosion of democratic norms and human rights.

For countries dependent on imports, the lesson is stark. Continued reliance on oil and gas leaves economies exposed to coercion, price shocks, and war. In a world where energy supply is increasingly controlled by a handful of powerful states and corporations, sovereignty becomes fragile.

The alternative is already emerging: Solar panels don’t start wars, wind turbines don’t need military protection, renewables don’t destabilize entire regions. According to the International Energy Agency, global renewable power capacity is set to expand by nearly 4,600 gigawatts between 2025 and 2030, double the growth of the previous five years. Wind, solar, battery storage, and electric vehicles are not just climate solutions; they are security strategies. 

More than 80 countries signaled support for a global fossil fuel phaseout at COP30 last November. Phasing out fossil fuels is not a niche climate demand; it is a stabilization strategy, it reclaims power from industries that profit from disorder. The energy transition, already accelerating through renewables, storage, and electrification, offers a pathway to sovereignty and security. The lesson, for world leaders, is increasingly hard to ignore: dependence on fossil fuels produces insecurity, not strength, that the world needs right now.