Green Power

The climate change discourse needs a fundamental rebrand. More often than not in the West, it is young people on the left, peppered with science figures leading the vanguard in the public. Concerns of long-term environmental degradation and climate spearhead the debate. While it has garnered a tremendous amount of political attention across the world, it is clear that world leaders and their governments are only paying lip service to their pledges. No major powers or emitters are on track to meet their Paris Climate Agreement targets of 1.5°C.

A major stumbling block seems to be the problem of emergent threats that take primary importance on their agenda: Great Power Competition. In the conventional climate change discourse, national security hardly factors into these largely moral considerations. On the contrary, the development of efficient and sustainable energy sources is one of the most overlooked sectors in fostering a resilient energy mix and ensuring national security in the West.

My energy, my rules

In most of the developed world (OECD), fossil fuel sources remain integral to the energy mix, retaining up to 50% or more of electricity generation or fuel for transportation. In developing countries, that number is even higher. Therefore, they are vulnerable to shocks from major fossil fuel suppliers or consumers, which can cause economic recessions. What this means, is that if major fossil fuel exporters lower production to raise prices, or a major consumer’s economy expands rapidly, or a geopolitical crisis develops, the price rises very quickly, leaving industry and households stranded. These are not just made-up scenarios. OPEC, a group of major oil-exporting countries, has been known to lower production to maximise their own profit per barrel sold, China’s economic rise and various wars in the Middle East have led to those significant fluctuations respectively.

Nominal global oil price fluctuations from 1861 to 2020 with salient price changes and main causes highlighted (data from Our World in Data)

In developing sources that are less vulnerable to external volatile pressures, such as hydroelectric and nuclear, states can better oversee their economies’ stability and weather the effects of global crises. The West can benefit from this tremendously, as most oil and gas exports are from the Middle East and Russia respectively, which are not famed for being reliable energy suppliers. France has developed an ambitious civilian nuclear power drive since the 1973 oil crisis (caused by OPEC) under the Messmer plan, and now 70% of its energy is under it. It has shielded it from the worst of the 2021 European energy crisis, and French President Macron, which previously pledged to reduce the nuclear energy mix to 50%, has reversed course and pledged to reaffirm nuclear power in its energy mix as a result.

Boons for everyone

The pursuit of emerging sustainable technologies may also cause scientific byproducts that may have use elsewhere. A large injection of public money, or tax cuts for organisations for research and development in engineering and physics spheres can potentially lead to incalculable benefits for greater society or even the military directly. The Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier’s new, more powerful A1B nuclear reactor, allows for a smaller crew for maintenance, increased ship speed, and improvements to aircraft catapults. This reactor was developed by Bechtel, which also works on conventional civilian nuclear reactors in the United States. The development of photovoltaics (essentially solar panels), low cost, and their ease of installation mean that many rural areas in the world, or even urban ones use less power drawn from the grid, freeing up disposable income. 

More directly, complex engineering projects for hydroelectric and nuclear power can be exported, which can be a source of income and soft power. France’s Areva and China’s CGN opened the first French-developed EPR nuclear reactor in Guangdong, and China’s hydropower projects in its Belt and Road initiative have received much attention.

The USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier, which as a result of its improved nuclear reactor, has an array of improvements to its capabilities - US Navy

Pushback

This is not to say there are significant obstacles to governments implementing these strategies. For example, the United States government has long been accused of state capture by oil companies, which for their part want to ensure the primacy of oil and natural gas in the energy mix. Consequently, its critics argue, has prevented them from decisively pursuing sustainable energies and kept the US from weaning off fossil fuels. Germany, unlike its neighbour France, has developed an acute aversion to nuclear power, which complicates its drive for sustainable energy. 

Those who don’t act will continue to pay the price for their indifference. The US’s Biden administration has recently asked Japan, India, and its strategic rival, China to release strategic petroleum reserves to cool prices. The Merkel administration saw little choice but to allow the construction of the Nordstream 2 pipeline due to the lack of available alternatives, ensuring Russian leverage over Germany and Europe for years to come. 

State investment in sustainable energy should come now more than ever, if not for the environment, the all-important issue of national security should prove enough.