The ongoing Iran conflict since February 28, 2026 has again brought the focus on the challenges of energy security confronted by many nations. The Affordable and Clean Energy is the goal number seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced and implemented by the US during 2015-2030. While the goal of affordable energy is closely related with energy security, the goal of clean energy is concerned with energy transition. The global concern about climate change has led to greater push towards clean energy transition in the world. However, in spite of serious efforts by the members of global community, the average share of renewable energy in the total global electricity consumption has reached just 40.9 percent in 2025 (Ember: 2025). Yet, the share of clean energy (including electricity and other forms of energy use) in total global energy consumption is still less as it was just 19.5 percent in 2022 (World Bank Group: 2025). It means the world has not fully transited to clean energy and has to be still dependent on traditional energy sources like coal and oil because 59 percent of energy needs are met by these traditional sources. It also means that the energy security framework should take into account the status of both traditional and renewable energy sources as well as the challenges faced by them.
Energy Security in the Present time
The above scenario about energy transition indicates that the global community will remain dependent on traditional sources of energy for foreseeable future. Hence the issue of energy security cannot be addressed without ensuring the access and supply of traditional energy sources. As the passes through the ‘mid transition’ phase in energy production and consumption the clean energy and fossil fuel systems co-exist and are both required to deliver reliable energy security (IEA:2022).
Energy security refers to the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price. It involves ensuring a reliable supply of energy to meet the growing demands of a nation, while managing risks such as geopolitical conflicts, supply chain disruptions, and environmental challenges. Energy security is not just about having uninterrupted access to energy, but also about securing energy supplies at an affordable price (IEA:2022). The issue of affordability has become important in view of rising oil and gas prices in view of global conflicts like Ukraine war and the Iran conflict, which has caused disruption in production as well as supply of energy resources. Thus, accessibility, affordability and uninterrupted supply of energy are the core elements of energy security. The energy security has vital importance not only for economic development but also for financial stability of nations. For example, energy sources like oil still continues to be the main source of transportation of goods and services across various places. Thus, disruption in oil and gas resources has cascading effect on rising prices of goods and services, unemployment, economic growth and financial stability.
Challenges to Energy Security
Since the world is passing through the phase of ‘mid energy transition’, the challenges of energy security are closely related with accessibility and affordability of traditional energy sources as well as the pace of clean energy transition. Some of the contemporary challenges to energy security are:
- Geopolitical Conflicts
The geopolitical conflicts and civil war have emerged as the major factors responsible for disruption in production and global supply chains of energy resources. Particularly at this time the countries with major energy resources and production are involved in either intra-state conflicts or civil wars. For example, Venezuela has largest oil reserves in the world but it is entangled in civic tensions and political instability. Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, but it is also marred by domestic violence and violent extremism and terrorism. Russia is the third largest producer of crude oil, but it is engaged in a protracted war with Ukraine since February 2022. The EU and the US have imposed severe economic and military sanctions against Russia hampering the global supply chain of oil resources from Russia. The Ukraine war does not appear to end in near future. The Ukraine war has and continues to have negative impact on both food and energy security as both ar leading producers of food and energy and the war undermines the production of food and energy in these countries. In addition, the restrictions on Russia have also impacted global supply chains of food and energy. India has repeated raised the concerns of food and energy security arising out of Ukraine war. A study by the WTO (2022) explores how the war is causing severe risks to food and energy security as well as exacerbating supply chain difficulties.
The ongoing Iran conflict has created severe energy crisis for many countries which are dependent on Gulf oil for their energy supply. Many Asian, European and African countries including leading economies like China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, South Africa, France etc. are dependent on gulf oil supply for their energy security. As a consequence of this conflict Iran has announced the closure of Hormuz Strait, a 33 kms narrow water way which links the Persian Gulf with Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. This closure has affected the global oil and gas supply through the Persian Gulf. The major oil producing countries of the Middle east like Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE depend on Persian Gulf route to supply oil and gas to the world. In all, the world is missing about 11 million barrels per day of crude oil supply, compared to the roughly 20 million barrel per day that transited the strait before the conflict (Gross:2026). According to one estimate by the IMF (2026), ‘About 25 to 30 percent of global oil and 20 percent of liquefied natural gas pass through the Strait of Hormuz, feeding demand not only in Asia but also in parts of Europe. Economies heavily dependent on oil imports in Africa and Asia are finding it increasingly hard to access the supplies they need, even at inflated prices.’ Thus, Iran war has deep negative impact on the energy supply and energy security.
This war and closure of Hormuz Strait are tip of the iceberg. Yemen based Houthis have also Iran conflict along the side of Iran against the US and Israel and may threaten the closure of Bab-al Mandab, with is another 30 km narrow route linking to Red Sea and Arabian Sea through Gulf of Aden. Houthis had already disrupted this trade and energy supply route in 2023-2024 in the wake of Gaza war. Again, Iran war is part of the Palestine issue which is the most complex problem of international relations. Thus, any tension in the region in future will disrupt energy supply. During the present Iran war, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks in Gulf countries, disrupting not only the energy supply but also the production of oil and gas resources. Even if the conflict stops now, it will take months together to normalize production and supply of energy resources from the region. There are no signs to early end of Iran conflict.
- Concentration of Energy Resources
The production and supply of oil and gas is always vulnerable as these resources are concentrated in few regions of the world: Latin America (Venezuela and Mexico); North America (the US and Canada); Middle East (Gulf Countries); Africa (Nigeria and Angola); and Russia. Majority of the countries including rising economies like India and China, are dependent on these sources for the supply of energy resources.
Reserves and Production of Energy Resources at a Glance
- Crude Oil
- Largest reserves as percentage of Global Reserves
Venezuela (18%), Saudi Arabia (16%), Iran (12%), Canada (10%), Iraq (8%)
- Leading Global producers as Percentage Share
USA (20%), Saudi Arabia (12%), Russia (11%), Canada (6%), Iraq (5%)
- Share in Global Exports of Crude oil
Saudi Arabia (17%), Russia (12%), USA (10%), UAE (8%), and Canada (6%)
- Natural Gas
- Share in Global Natural Gas Reserves as percentage
Russia (20%), Iran (17%), Qatar (13%), Turkmenistan, (7%), USA (6%)
- Share in Global Production of Natural Gas
USA (25%), Russia, (16%), Iran (6%), China (5%), Canada (5%)
- Share in Global Export of Natural Gas
USA (20%, LNG), Russia (18%), Qatar (15%), Norway (8%)
As the above figures show, the uneven concentration and production of energy resources and their production make them liable to energy shocks and energy crisis.
3.Weaponization of Energy Resources and Critical Minerals
In view of the over dependence of countries on the supply of energy resources, they have been liable to be used as a political weapon in international politics. The major oil producing countries have established OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) in 1960 to collectively regulate the prices, supply and markets of petroleum products. The first instance of weaponization of energy resources came in 1973 when Oil producing Arab countries stopped the supply of oil to those countries which supported Israel during the third Arab-Israel war. This led to the disruption of global supply chain of oil. This is known as oil diplomacy. This led to the search of oil resources by European countries in the North Sea. The OECD developed countries also established the International Energy Agency in 1974 to make long term strategy for energy security. In the wake of attack by Israel and US, Iran has used closure of choke point of Hormuz as a strategic tool in the war. It should be noted that 20 percent of global oil supply passes through the Hormuz Strait. Iran has also attacked neighbouring Gulf countries and their energy infrastructure on the plea that these countries have US bases, which are used for launching air attacks against Iran.
Further, critical minerals like lithium and rare earth minerals are critical for the clean energy transition and energy storage. In April, 2025, China had imposed export restrictions for critical minerals and magnets against many countries including India. This hampered electronic industry in India (Shah:2025) It needs to be underlined that China enjoys monopoly in many critical mineral deposits and their processing (Redikar:2025). The increasing tendency of weaponizing of energy resources and critical minerals undermines the entire ecosystem of energy security.
- Complexities of Clean Energy Transition
The option of clean energy may appear attractive, but the clean energy transition is beset with many complexities and hurdles. First, the global average of 40.9 percent clean energy is not evenly distributed across nations. Many countries are far behind the level of global average consumption of clean energy. Second, the transition to clean energy requires advance technology and huge financial resources, which are not available to poor and least developed countries. The transfer of technology and funds from developed to developing countries for clean energy transition has been a bone of contention in the successive climate change negotiations. Third, the transition to clean energy sources has implication for the pace of development in and many countries are not in position to compromise with their right to fats development. Fourth, clean energy sources have important viability issues. Most of the clean energy sources like wind, and solar are not versatile. For example, solar energy cannot be produced in the night and wind energy cannot be produced everywhere ad every time. Similarly, many countries including India are opting for nuclear energy, but that requires huge investment and supply of uranium and prone to safety and disaster issues. The memories of Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia in 1986 and Fukushima nuclear disaster in in 2011 in Japan are still fresh.
- Technological Challenges
The search for clean energy sources also faces considerable technological hurdles. The clean energy sources can at best supplement the traditional energy resources, but they cannot replace the traditional energy resources like oil and coal till we have not developed viable energy storage technologies. The reason is simple, the clean energy sources like wind and solar energy cannot supply 24 hours energy. To make them versatile for all time use, we need to develop reliable and large energy storage systems. But such energy storage systems are yet to be developed. Hence, we continue to rely on traditional sources of energy, in spite of development of clean energy sources.
- Environmental Concerns
It has been proved beyond doubt that the traditional energy sources like fossil fuels have serious harmful impact on environment in the form of carbon intensity. However, the poor developing countries and Least Developed Countries are not in position to quickly transit to clean energy or compromise with their development needs. The focus on clean energy transition may be viable for environment protection but all countries are not ready or capable of such transition in short term. Hence, they have to rely mainly on conventional sources of energy to meet their development needs. The balancing between energy security and development on the one hand and environment protection on the other has emerged a new challenge in many countries.
The Way Out
There is no need to emphasize the need for energy security in a world where energy is a critical input in the development and other human activities. The ongoing Iran conflict and closure of Hormuz has thrown up two important lessons for all countries mainly to energy dependent countries: First that one should try to be self-reliant in energy resources; and Second one should diversify energy sources to remain resilient during energy crisis. Thus, energy security has been included as one of the SDGs in the form of ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’. The leading intergovernmental organization- IEA (2022) has come out with the 10 point framework for ensuring energy security, which are subsumed under the five guidelines: increasing clean energy investment and energy efficiency; involving all nations on board for energy security; the gradual and careful transition from oil and gas; addressing new challenges through resilience and flexibility in energy frameworks; and leadership role of governments in ensuring well-functioning markets of energy resources. As the pace of energy transition is slow and we need to be dependent on conventional energy sources of energy, one needs to develop a robust domestic strategy of energy security anchored on the on the following four pillars: energy efficiency, diversification of energy resources (imports), strategic energy reserves, and transition to clean energy.
Energy efficiency involves development of new technologies and tools which help in saving of energy resources. The diversification of energy resources involves locations and developing the multiple sources of energy import. For example, India imports crude oil from 40 countries, hence it may not be much vulnerable to crude oil crisis, but India is dependent on the Middle east for her 90 percent gas imports, hence it is more vulnerable to the supply of LPG and natural gas. Strategic energy reserves involve keeping the stock of oil and gas for meeting the emergency needs in case of supply chain disruptions. India has developed strategic crude reserves to meet the need for 74 days, but it lacks similar reserves of natural gas and LPG. Transition to clean energy is required not only for energy security but also for environment protection. Besides domestic strategy, the energy dependent countries should also try to develop a multilateral global mechanism for the regulation of global energy supply and markets, which should not be affected during geopolitical conflicts and should be exempted from sanctions regime. India, China, Japan, South Korea and South Africa may take lead in this direction as energy security is the essential public good of our time.
REFERENCES
Ember (2025) World Surpasses 40 % Clean Power as Renewables See Record rise. Ember, 08 April, 2025. Available at: https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/world-surpasses-40-clean-power-as-renewables-see-record-rise/
World Bank Group (2025) Renewable Energy Consumption (% of total Energy Consumption). World bank Group, data extracted from International Energy Agency (IEA). Available At: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.FEC.RNEW.ZS
IEA (2022) Energy Security in Energy Transitions, World Energy Outlook 2022. International Energy Agency. Available At: https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2022/energy-security-in-energy-transitions.
Shah, A. (2025) China’s Magnet Curb Risk Halting Indian Car Production- Industry Documents. Reuters, 28 May, 2025. Available At: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-magnet-curbs-risk-halting-indian-car-production-industry-documents-2025-05-28/
Redikar, H.E.C. and M. Khan (2025) Leapfrogging China’s Critical Mineral Dominance. Council on Foreign Relations, February, 2026. Available At: https://www.cfr.org/reports/leapfrogging-chinas-critical-minerals-dominance
Gross, Samantha (2026) Iran Conflict’s Energy Shocks are not yet Fully Realized. Brookings, 01 April, 2026. Available At: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-iran-conflicts-energy-shocks-are-not-yet-fully-realized/
WTO (2022) Crisis in Ukraine: Implications of the War for Global Trade and Development. World Trade Organization, Publications, 2022. Available At: https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/crisis_ukraine_e.htm
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