Editorial

The global energy and climate change landscape are, at the time of writing, in a state of disarray. Most immediately, oil and natural gas markets have been panicked by the war in the Middle East. The United States of America (USA) and Israel launched airborne bombing raids on the Islamic Republic of Iran at the end of February 2026, who then hit back by closing the Straits of Hormuz. That cut off some 20% of world oil and gas supplies, thereby inducing corresponding rises in wholesale prices on international markets. On the climate change front, the mitigation of ‘greenhouse gas’ (GHG) emissions is made more difficult because President Donald Trump has initiated steps to withdraw the USA from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The USA is the world’s second largest GHG emitter country (releasing 11.1% of global emissions) after the People’s Republic of China (25.9%) in 2025. Trump views the Paris accord as being a “unfair, one-sided” pact and wishes to prioritise American economic independence over such international climate commitments.