From Samoa to the Solomon Islands, the Pacific has much to teach us about the liberating power of renewable energy. While coal, oil and gas leave communities hostage to volatile fossil fuel markets, expensive fuel imports and the whims of tyrants, renewable energy offers the promise of affordable and reliable energy, greater independence, and increased resilience to whatever challenges the world may hold.

For some Pacific nations, fuel imports, including diesel for generators, cost up to 25% of GDP. When prices spike, the economic impact is severe. During a visit to Vanuatu over a decade ago, I learned how many communities were freeing themselves from expensive diesel imports through installing solar and battery systems. Renewable energy is also helping ensure universal access to electricity, particularly in outer islands, with benefits for health, education and wellbeing.

Similarly, here in Australia, a growing number of remote First Nations communities are relying on solar, batteries and microgrids to reduce energy costs, improve reliability and support self-determination. Meanwhile, in our cities, millions of households are using rooftop solar and batteries to generate their own power.

Today, with the illegal invasion of Iran sending shockwaves through oil and gas markets, many more of us are getting an abrupt lesson in the downsides of fossil fuel dependence. The near closure of the Strait of Hormuz amounts to a chokehold on global oil supplies, sending prices skyrocketing thousands of miles away.

As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reminded us last week:

“The resources of the clean energy era cannot be blockaded or weaponized. There are no price spikes for sunlight and no embargoes on the wind”.

While fossil fuels leave us shackled to powerful corporations and fragile supply chains, renewables offer locally owned solutions. This means less risk of interruption to our energy supplies and less wealth flowing from our communities into the hands of powerful corporations.

Back to the Pacific, and the region is once again determined to lead the world’s response to climate change and the ‘fossil fuel crisis’, with an increasing number of countries backing a vision for the Pacific to become the world’s first fossil fuel free region. Expect this landmark initiative to gather further momentum over the coming months.

A rapid phase out of fossil fuels is essential to protecting communities everywhere from deadly heatwaves, devastating floods, catastrophic fire seasons, accelerating sea level rise and other ravages of climate change. It is also an opportunity to decolonise our energy systems, reduce the drivers of global conflict, and build greater security for all.

Today’s heartbreaking suffering of innocent civilians across the Middle East, as old power lashes out and seeks to retain its energy dominance, epitomises the brute reality of the fossil fuel era. As this confronting moment makes painfully clear, the sooner we break free from fossil fuels, the sooner we build a safer, more dignified and more resilient world.

See also: 4 reasons renewables are a security imperative.