How do energy security and the shift to renewables fit together?

Energy security is about having reliable energy that cannot easily be cut off, and the shift to renewables fits in because wind and sunshine are available over wide areas, while oil and gas are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Energy security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to cheaper energy has become essential to modern economies, but the uneven distribution of energy supplies among countries has led to significant vulnerabilities.

After the 1973 oil crisis some countries moved to increase their energy security. Japan, almost totally dependent on imported oil, steadily introduced natural gas, nuclear power, high-speed mass transit and energy conservation. The United Kingdom began exploiting North Sea oil and gas and became a net exporter of energy into the 2000s. India has carried out a major hunt for domestic oil to cut its dependency on OPEC, while Iceland has been well advanced in plans to be energy independent by 2050 with 100 percent renewable energy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the recent surge in spending on energy transitions was sustained by a variety of economic, technology, industrial and energy security considerations, not only by climate policies. In 2025, it reported, around USD 2.2 trillion of investment was going to renewables, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency and electrification, twice the USD 1.1 trillion going to oil, natural gas and coal.

Security can point in more than one direction. Domestic oil and gas also reduce dependence on imports, and in 2024 US crude oil imports from the Persian Gulf were at their lowest level in nearly 40 years, as domestic production and imports from Canada increased. And 2026 showed why the question matters: Wikipedia describes the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz since 28 February 2026, after the United States and Israel launched an air war against Iran, as the largest disruption to world energy supply since the 1970s energy crisis.