In April, Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong told shareholders the Vietnamese conglomerate had abandoned plans to build the country’s largest LNG power plant, a 4.8-gigawatt project in Haiphong. Instead, he said, "we have already submitted a proposal to the government for wind, solar energy and a battery energy storage system.”
Meanwhile, construction began on a $300-million, 440-MW solar energy project in the Philippines, where the government declared a national energy emergency and fast-tracked another 13 solar and wind projects, six hydroelectric projects and an integrated renewable energy storage system.
The European Union is launching 22 measures—from electricity tax cuts to boosting investments in renewables— that double down on clean energy as the path to energy security. In Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, electric vehicle sales are up 27, 89, and 263 per cent.
From Egypt to Bangladesh to the Netherlands, more than 40 countries are rationing energy – closing schools, limiting travel, and curbing AC in public buildings.
These dramatic changes are driven by the war in the Middle East and the resulting oil and gas price spikes. Changes like these get locked in – once Vietnam builds a massive renewable energy plant, they won’t snap back to LNG when the Strait of Hormuz opens. Nobody wants to wait around for the next inevitable price shock.
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung sums it up: “Our future will be at serious risk if we continue to rely on fossil fuels.”
These events have another thing in common – Canadian politicians and media haven’t noticed them. Despite our oft-stated dream of becoming an “energy superpower,” we Canadians seem oblivious to the monumental changes in how the world is buying and using energy.
Like generals fighting the last war, our national debate is still dominated by fossil fuel exports. We’re still building LNG terminals and oil pipelines. While Canada’s auto strategy offered some support for EV buyers, Ottawa is still providing a half-billion-dollar taxpayer subsidy to a single diesel-engine pickup manufacturer.
It can be difficult to notice all this when the world’s loudest politics are on our doorstep. The United States is aggressively out of step with global trends on energy policy. The Trump administration opened protected federal land to drilling, rolled back fuel consumption standards for vehicles and cancelled major renewable power projects. It’s unclear whether this is a misguided economic vision or just a desire to reverse the priorities of the previous administration. Regardless, the name of the game in the US is still fossil fuels and American consumers are paying more for everything as a direct result, as oil and gas companies take advantage of higher international prices.
In 2025, Chinese drivers put 37,000 electric vehicles on the road every day. If Canada moved that fast, every car and pickup in Canada could be electric within two years. China’s newest Five-Year Plan explicitly targets “peaking petroleum use.” India is targeting 30 per cent EV use by 2030, of which roughly 8 per cent has been achieved, as part of its vision of energy independence by 2047.
In three straight editions of its Energy Security Scenarios (2023, 2025, 2026), European supermajor Shell describes global oil demand peaking within the next decade and entering permanent decline in every scenario. Countries aren’t just “doing the right thing” on climate change. This is about shielding people from price shocks – energy security, pure and simple.
All of that happened before the war in the Middle East. The conflict is sharply accelerating a transition that was already moving rapidly.
Where does that leave Canada?
We must not follow the Trump administration in doubling down on fossil fuels. Instead, we must heed the nations we hope to sell oil and gas to and realize they’re working hard to stop buying them. Energy companies make the superficial argument that Canada is a secure supplier in a chaotic world, but Canada doesn’t set global prices. Our oil and gas got expensive too when Russia invaded Ukraine, and when the US and Israel attacked Iran. The smart play for drivers, utilities and nations around the world is to rely on domestically generated electricity, be it hydroelectricity, wind, or solar. It’s no use being a secure supplier of a product people no longer need because cheaper alternatives are available.
Canada itself, and not just our oil and gas companies, risks a massive strategic miscalculation in all this. We risk a future where the world economy has passed us by. Taxpayers' dollars should not be spent subsidizing oil and gas infrastructure that could well become stranded assets. The Government of Canada should concentrate on what’s best for all Canadians. That means EVs, heat pumps, and low-cost renewable electricity.
Canadians need our Prime Minister to understand the scope and urgency of the challenge to electrify the nation. We must keep pace with the global energy transition – otherwise, Canada’s energy crisis may just be getting started.
This letter was originally published in The Globe and Mail on June 3, 2026
It was co-signed by our Executive Director, Daniel Rotman, as well as the following organizations:
Chris Severson-Baker, Pembina Institute; Tim Gray, Environmental Defence; Patricia Fuller, International Institute for Sustainable Development.
