The energy shock from the Iran war has policymakers around the globe rethinking ways to reduce long-term dependence on oil and gas imports, with proposals to expand nuclear energy and renewables, grow strategic stockpiles and domestic production, and diversify foreign sources of supply.
Iran’s closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, after the U.S. and Israel attacked on February 28, marks the third time this decade that an international energy shock has forced governments to reckon with the risks of a world dependent on the free flow of vast quantities of petroleum to fuel its economic engine. It has also stoked the view that the fossil fuel age must end, after pushback in recent years to ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change.
France will double state support to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) a year through to 2030 to help its switch to electricity from oil and gas and their derivative fuels, its Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.
Measures including boosting the use of electric vehicles and modernising home heating are meant to help wean France off imported energy to avoid disruptions like those caused by the Iran war, which has stopped oil and gas cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz and destroyed Gulf energy infrastructure.
“Today 60% of our energy consumption comes from these imported fossil fuels, though our domestically produced power is three times cheaper,” Lecornu said in a televised address.
“As long as we depend on oil and gas, we will continue to pay the price of other people’s wars, which unfortunately will continue and will impoverish us,” he added.
Lecornu did not specify where the funding would come from, saying only that it would be done without new money, to ensure France met its public deficit targets.