About 80% of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels. This reliance is a huge risk for us. Not just because gas, oil and coal are fuelling the climate crisis, but also because it makes us unsafe in many ways. Real energy security can only be achieved with 100 % renewables. Here’s why.

1. Fossil fuels threaten national sovereignty and security

Some countries have a lot of fossil fuel resources, others don’t. In a world where the majority of energy comes from fossil fuels, fossil fuel rich countries hold the power. Major oil and gas economies have been able to act with impunity, with the examples of Russia or the US flouting global mechanisms like the International Criminal Court, and Saudi Arabia or the US bullying poorer nations at the annual UN global climate talks (UNFCCC COP). Trump’s attempts to pressure the EU into new gas deals, using tariff threats and flouting World Trade Organisation rules, is another perfect illustration.

Whether it’s oligarchs funding wars or political strongmen using gas as leverage, fossil fuel dependency makes democracies weaker, not stronger.

2. Oil and gas corporations cash in, household budgets suffer

In 2022, the five biggest oil and gas companies (BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and TotalEnergies) together posted $200 billion in profits. Some made record-breaking earnings while ordinary households were drowning in skyrocketing energy bills, contributing to the cost-of-living crisis. As war, inflation, and corporate greed drove up prices millions of people struggled. Electricity and gas prices have jumped by around 50% for European consumers in recent years, and more than 1 in 10 Europeans can no longer afford to heat their homes. Renewables are already cheaper than gas power generation and they proved to push down the wholesale prices of electricity. 

3. Fossil fuels threaten communities’ safety

Fossil fuels exploration and infrastructure such as platforms, pipelines, LNG terminals or refineries can generate earthquakes, oil spills, explosions and fires, creating direct threats  to health and security of local communities. A striking example is fracking. This controversial method of extracting gas is particularly polluting and harmful, possibly leading to low birth weights, asthma, lymphoma and other diseases. In the US, a gas pipeline accident occurs every 40 hours. Onshore fields can cause chronic earthquakes damaging homes and buildings, just like in the Netherlands where a gas field was shut down for the safety of local populations.

Whether imported or locally made, fossil fuels are harming us and endangering our future.

4. Fossil fuels are a threat to peace: empowering authoritarian regimes and fuelling war 

The biggest fossil fuel producers act with impunity, contributing to war and human rights abuses. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine made one thing crystal clear: fossil fuels are more than just an energy source, they’re a political weapon. Every barrel of oil or cubic meter of gas imported from Russia finances Putin’s war chest, prolonging the war in Ukraine. A report found that even last year the EU paid more for Russian fuels than it gave in aid to Ukraine.

The fossil fuel industry is a serial killer with a long history of war, fuelling multiple conflicts.

5. Fossil fuels worsen climate chaos and exacerbate extreme weather

Fossil fuels are the number one driver of climate change, responsible for around 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And just 36 fossil fuel companies are responsible for half of global CO₂ emissions. Their polluting business has contributed to at least 12,000 extreme weather events in the past 50 years, killing two million people, with lowest income countries bearing 90% of this unimaginable loss.

To avoid the worst climate chaos, we must switch off fossil fuels and their climate wrecking pollutants.

6. Fossil fuels are blocking the shift to energy security and independence

Oil and gas corporations, together with fossil fuel-rich nations, keep expanding fossil fuels and pushing for more fossil fuel infrastructure to continue their dirty business, locking us into a dirty, expensive system for decades to come. All money spent on new fossil fuel infrastructure is money we’re not investing in solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, energy waste cuts or grid upgrades.

Fossil fuels are delaying the transition and deepening the very crises we’re trying to solve: climate, cost-of-living and energy insecurity.

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- Albedin Simanth

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