{"id":74016,"date":"2026-04-21T01:54:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/?p=74016"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:54:36","slug":"energy-security-is-national-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energytracker.asia\/energy-security-is-national-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy Security is National Security \u2013 and it Starts at the Subnational Level [Op-Ed]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The war in the Middle East<\/a> is being fought with weapons, but its wider consequences are economic. It is also another entirely predictable shock that exposes a deeper vulnerability: our continued dependence on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around a fifth<\/a> of the world\u2019s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, now at the centre of escalating tensions. As the US called on allies<\/a> to safeguard shipping routes from potential Iranian attacks and, more recently, to seize control<\/a> of the strait, the fragility of this corridor underscores how exposed the global economy remains to geopolitical risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an uncomfortable contradiction at the heart of the international response. Just weeks before the world convenes in Colombia for the first major summit<\/a> focused on phasing out fossil fuels, governments are mobilising to protect the very commodity driving both climate breakdown and geopolitical instability. Despite the lessons of the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, which sent energy and food prices soaring, our dependence on fossil fuels remains structurally unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impacts across Southeast Asia are immediate and severe. Thailand is managing critically low energy reserves \u2013 around three months\u2019 worth<\/a> \u2013 forcing emergency measures such as work-from-home orders for state agencies. Fuel rationing has been introduced in Myanmar<\/a> and the Philippines, where the government recently declared<\/a> a national energy emergency. In some areas, essential services have been disrupted<\/a> \u2013 from farmers unable to access diesel for machinery to cremations being delayed due to fuel shortages. As Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr put it<\/a>, countries in the region are \u201cvictims of a war that is not of our choosing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not simply a failure of climate policy \u2013 it is a failure of economic and security policy. We will not emerge from this crisis unscathed, but we can come out of it clearer-eyed. Clean energy is no longer just an environmental imperative; it\u2019s the only credible path to durable energy security and long-term economic resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homegrown clean power is a strategic necessity. Crises, whether geopolitical or climate-driven, are no longer exceptional events. They are becoming structural features of the global economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What must not continue to become structural is our exposure to fossil fuel volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Subnational Governments Matter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some of the most decisive leadership is emerging below the national level. States, regions and devolved governments are increasingly treating climate policy as security policy. In the US, California has accelerated investments<\/a> in renewable energy, battery storage, and electric vehicles<\/a>, not only to meet climate targets but also to shield its economy from global volatility in fossil fuel prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across Europe, similar dynamics are playing out. North Rhine-Westphalia, long defined by coal and heavy industry, is investing at scale<\/a> in wind and hydrogen to reduce exposure to geopolitical shocks. In Spain, regions such as Catalonia<\/a> and Navarre<\/a> are pairing renewable expansion with green industrial policy, positioning clean energy as both an economic and security strategy. Scotland<\/a>, with its vast offshore wind potential, is making a similar case for energy sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These examples point to a broader shift: where national governments hesitate, subnational actors are moving ahead, reframing the energy transition as a matter of economic security as much as climate responsibility. What makes this level of governance so critical is not just ambition, but proximity to delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States and regions control many of the levers that determine how energy systems actually function: planning and permitting for renewables, grid infrastructure, building standards, public procurement and increasingly, investment vehicles of their own. This is what energy security looks like in practice: not abstract commitments, but targeted investments in domestic capacity, flexibility and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also why financing subnational governments is so critical. Without access to capital at the level where projects are delivered, the transition will remain slower, more uneven, and more exposed to national-level political cycles. Yet the transition remains profoundly uneven and far from just. States and regions<\/a> are responsible for up to 70% of climate mitigation and over 90% of adaptation actions, and are often closest to affected communities. But they receive less than 17% of international climate finance, according to the global subnational government network Regions4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southeast Asia: Exposed and Underfunded<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the International Energy Agency<\/a>, the current disruption constitutes the largest oil supply shock in history. It has exposed structural vulnerabilities in oil-dependent economies across Southeast Asia, raising the cost of transport and essential goods, straining public services, and disproportionately affecting lower-income households who face the brunt of energy insecurity. This is a stark reminder that fossil fuel dependence does not just carry environmental costs but also systemic economic and social risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy systems across the region remain highly centralised yet deeply exposed. Around 60%<\/a> of the region\u2019s oil imports come from Southwest Asia, leaving economies directly vulnerable to the kind of geopolitical disruption now unfolding. At the same time, demand is rising rapidly: electricity consumption increased by more than 60%<\/a> over the past decade and is projected to grow at around 4% annually to 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This demand continues to be met overwhelmingly by fossil fuels, which have accounted for nearly 80%<\/a> of energy demand growth in recent years, with coal alone generating around half of the region\u2019s electricity. What this creates is not just an emissions challenge, but a structural security risk with economies that are simultaneously growing, import-dependent, and locked into volatile global fuel markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are early signs of a shift. In Indonesia, provincial governments are increasingly playing a greater role in renewable energy deployment<\/a>, particularly in solar and distributed energy systems. In Vietnam<\/a>, local authorities have been instrumental<\/a> in enabling the rapid expansion of solar in recent years, even within a centrally directed system. These examples are the exception rather than the rule. Still, they illustrate that even in highly centralised systems, local implementation capacity can accelerate change when empowered and resourced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A solar farm bordered by rice fields in Vietnam (Image: Thoai Pham \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite this exposure, Southeast Asia attracts only a fraction of global clean energy investment \u2013 approximately 2%<\/a> in 2023, highlighting a fundamental mismatch between risk and capital allocation. Financing subnational governments will be essential to closing this gap, enabling investment to reach the level at which infrastructure is planned, permitted, and delivered. It is at this level where, if action happens, communities feel the benefits. Whether it is multilateral or national development banks, sub-national development banks, or the private sector, green bonds, or blended finance, we cannot afford to underfund the frontline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional Cooperation is the Key to Energy Security<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Energy security in Southeast Asia cannot be achieved by countries acting alone. Initiatives such as the planned Asean Power Grid aim to connect national electricity systems, enabling countries to share renewable energy across borders and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels. The potential is significant<\/a>: a more integrated regional grid could smooth supply, lower costs, and reduce exposure to global shocks. But progress has been slow, constrained by political fragmentation, regulatory misalignment and concerns over sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is not whether regional energy security can translate into national resilience, but whether governments are willing to build the trust and coordination required to make it possible. In a region defined by diversity, that will not be easy. But the alternative \u2013 continued fragmentation in the face of shared risk \u2013 is so much more costly, because when one region lags, the effects are widespread. We cannot mitigate shared risks in siloes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the reality of a fossil-fuel-dependent system, where exposure amplifies risk. The uncomfortable truth is that we are not short of warnings. We are short of political follow-through. The answer cannot be a return to the status quo; it must be a more strategic and equitable acceleration of the transition, led by all key economic stakeholders, including governments and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means investing not only at the national level, but in states, regions and cities that are already driving progress. Financing subnational governments will be essential to building resilience where it is most needed, and to ensuring that the transition delivers security as well as sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world of compounding crises, energy security is national security. The question is no longer whether we should accelerate the transition to clean energy, but whether national governments are willing to align finance, governance and political will behind the actors already driving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Champa Patel<\/strong> is the Climate Group\u2019s executive director for governments and policy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Energy Tracker Asia.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was first published on Dialogue Earth<\/a> and republished with permissio<\/em>n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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