Column: A move that would minimize global conflict
By David Suzuki
We must stop using fossil fuels now, for the sake of the climate, but also to bring about greater global peace and stability.
Renewable energy technologies are improving rapidly while installations continue to ramp up. Energy from wind, solar and storage is now the most cost-effective and prices continue to drop. It’s more efficient and cleaner than power from coal, gas and oil and doesn’t emit climate-altering greenhouse gases. It’s available everywhere and will never run out.
On the other hand, as Bill McKibben writes, “Oil is unique in being extremely valuable, extremely dense and hence relatively easy to hoard and control, and extremely concentrated in a few places around the world.” He adds, “A nation that builds its prosperity on oil makes itself a target; a nation that depends on imported oil to survive makes itself a vassal.”
According to the United Nations, “About 80 per cent of the global population lives in countries that are net-importers of fossil fuels — that’s about 6 billion people who are dependent on fossil fuels from other countries, which makes them vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and crises.”
Despite the numerous advantages of renewable energy, we’re still seeing deadly military battles and invasions over oil. Amid varying justifications, and trumped-up charges hinging on weapons and drugs, U.S. President Donald Trump has openly admitted that the recent invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president and his wife were aimed at seizing control of the South American country’s vast reserves of heavy crude oil.
Of course, we can’t forget, as U.S. writer Rebecca Solnit points out, that these are the actions of “a wildly unpopular president doing his utmost to harm the people of this country and enrich himself, his family, and his cronies while in rapid mental and physical decline and in an ongoing panic over what the Epstein files could tell us about him.”
Oil, or in our case, heavy, toxic bitumen, is also causing conflict in relatively peaceful Canada, where, as McKibben writes, “Alberta threatens over and over to disrupt the nation unless it gets its oily way.”
It’s increasingly clear that the hyper-capitalist love for fossil fuels and hatred of renewable energy stems largely from the fact that — unlike wind, solar, geothermal and hydro — oil can be monopolized and controlled, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few.
Solnit writes, “Fossil fuel is inseparable from violence, and dependence on it has created a brutal world order in which some states have corrosive outsize power due to their possession of oil and gas while others have corrosive dependency on these often-human-rights-abusing regimes.”
No country has ever invaded another to seize its solar panels or wind turbines. It’s impossible to embargo or attack solar power sources. As McKibben writes, “[It’s] going to be hard to figure out how to fight wars over sunshine.” (To be fair, the “superpowers” are coveting critical mineral resources in other countries, required for computers and artificial intelligence as well as renewable energy and electric vehicle components. But oil is still the priority.)
One of the best ways to bring greater peace and stability is to speed up the transition from polluting fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. Add that to the many other advantages of the renewable energy revolution — from cleaner air, water and land and related better health outcomes to good jobs, more affordable living and greater economic stability.
The shift from inefficient, climate-altering fuels to cleaner energy is inevitable and proceeding rapidly. More than 90 per cent of new energy capacity in 2024 came from renewable sources, and 91 per cent was less expensive than new fossil fuel alternatives. Global investments in renewable energy have outpaced spending on fossil fuels for the past 10 years.
But we’re still burning too much dirty fuel, and emissions continue to rise. Heavy crude from oilsands in Venezuela and Alberta is particularly bad for the climate. Despite international agreements and the reality of the climate crisis, desperate fossil fuel forces are doing everything possible to keep the obscene profits rolling in — meaning more droughts, deadly heat, desertification, sea level rise, human migration, health impacts, death, wildfires, unpredictable weather, species extinction and more.
There’s no place in this world for more pipelines, more drilling, more burning. We must stop using fossil fuels now, for the sake of the climate, but also to bring about greater global peace and stability. The choice is clear.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington.
Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.
