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Welcome back to Current Climate. The resumption of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran sent oil and gasoline prices back up last week, reversing a month of declines after a tentative ceasefire took hold. Where they’ll go in the near term isn’t clear, but renewed volatility for fossil fuel exports moving through the Strait of Hormuz means the shift to clean energy isn’t going to slow.

In most of the world, the fighting in Iran–coming four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also sent energy prices soaring–has made it clear that relying on imported fossil fuels is just too risky. The U.S., blessed with an abundance of oil and natural gas, hasn’t felt as much economic pain from the war as Europe, Asia and Africa, though insatiable energy demand from AI data centers is accelerating installations of large solar and battery power systems.

In each case, the motivation is economics, not climate-oriented: renewable energy is faster and cheaper to deploy than conventional power sources. And China, by far the world’s top producer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles, is reaping the benefits.

In March, the first full month of the Iran war, global exports of Chinese solar panels surged more than 80% from a year earlier, according to energy researcher Ember. And as NPR reports, countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines are buying all they can to bolster domestic energy supplies.

Americans hate higher pump prices, though so far that hasn’t led many to trade in their gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups for electric vehicles, though once again, the story is different in the rest of the world. Global EV sales rose 7% in June to 2 million units, even as they slumped 13% in North America due to the ongoing impact of Trump’s elimination of a $7,500 tax credit last year. Worldwide sales of battery-powered........

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