CNN Reports an Unintended Consequence of War: Trump Turns Out to Be a President Supportive of Climate Action

As oil and gas prices surge, noticeable shifts toward clean energy are being observed, raising a strange question: could this war unintentionally turn Donald Trump into a climate-friendly president, at least on the global stage?

CNN wrote: The Iran war was supposed to be a short and lightning attack that would lead to the overthrow of the government within a few weeks. But instead, the United States finds itself embroiled in a war that has transformed the world's energy system.

According to "Select" report; In the continuation of this article, it is stated: With the jump in the price of oil and gas, noticeable changes are observed in the direction of moving towards clean energy; An issue that has raised a very strange question: Is it possible that this war will inadvertently turn Donald Trump into a pro-climate president, at least in the world arena?

If this happens, there will be a deep irony in it. Trump is the most prominent climate change denier. He has called global warming a "hoax" and clean energy a "fraud", supported fossil fuels and eliminated a series of climate and environmental protection measures.

But now that the war is in its eighth month, it reveals the enormous vulnerability of fossil fuels to geopolitical instabilities. There are signs of a global movement towards clean energy; However, the overall picture is complicated and some countries have turned to coal for energy supply.

According to some experts, the longer the war lasts, the more its impact on the reduction of global demand for oil and gas can be greater.

Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said: "For all [Trump's] efforts to encourage fossil fuel consumption, he may end up accelerating the phase-out himself."

The start of the American-Israeli war against Iran in February marked the biggest oil shock in history. By disrupting the passage through the Strait of Hormuz - a vital passage through which about one-fifth of the world's oil and gas was transported - Iran caused the price of oil to reach more than 100 dollars per barrel.

Many analysts predicted that the increase in prices would be short-term, but this situation has continued even after Iran eased restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz. The cost of transporting oil through this strait has increased greatly and new fronts have been opened in this conflict. including attacks by Iran-backed Houthis on oil facilities and oil tankers in Saudi Arabia.

All these developments have affected the demand. In January, the International Energy Agency predicted that global oil demand would increase by 930,000 barrels per day in 2026. But by September, the picture had changed dramatically. This agency now predicts a 2.5 million barrel daily drop in oil demand due to the "deadlock" in negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Less oil means less emissions of global warming pollutants. According to the analysis of the non-profit publication "Carbon Brief", the emission of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuels in the world is on the way to decrease by about 0.5% in 2026. This will be the first reduction since 2020; The year when the covid-19 pandemic stopped a large part of the world's activities.

Changes in transportation and increasing acceptance of electric cars

This situation also creates big changes in the transportation sector; The sector that accounts for the largest share of world oil consumption. People are driving less and flying less, but these changes are likely to be temporary, according to Sure Alvik, vice president and director of energy vision at the Norwegian consulting firm DNV. The changes that could be more permanent are related to the cars that people buy.

According to the statistics of the International Energy Agency, the global sales of electric vehicles increased by four percent in the second quarter of 2026. The agency said the Middle East crisis "has clearly increased the importance of electric vehicles as a solution to energy security and fuel cost concerns."

Australia and parts of Asia have seen the boom in the electric car market; Europe has also joined this trend by recording new sales records in 2026. This issue was raised in a report by the non-profit group supporting clean transportation, "Transport & Environment".

The price of fuel has been one of the main factors of this process; Especially since the price of diesel has increased by 38% since the beginning of the war and has put considerable pressure on consumers.

However, the United States is going against this trend. The sale of electric cars in this country has decreased sharply; Because the Trump administration has reduced its support for these cars and practically banned the entry of cheaper Chinese models. According to the statistics of the research company "Motor Intelligence", the sale of electric cars in the United States has decreased by more than 30% since the beginning of this year.

The situation with natural gas is similar. The International Energy Agency has stated that the conflict has caused a "major supply shock" in global gas markets and predicts that global gas demand will decrease by about 0.5 percent in 2026.

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The movement of countries towards clean energy

Countries are looking for alternatives to fossil fuels, and since the start of the war, dozens of countries have implemented policies to replace these fuels with clean energy. The use of solar and wind energy, unlike oil and gas, is not dependent on a limited number of strategic and vulnerable bottlenecks.

"The new geopolitics of energy is driving clean energy solutions and electrification," said Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the Global Energy, Climate, and Sustainability Lab at New York University.

For example, according to data from the independent research group "Rhodium Group", investment in solar energy capacity in Southeast Asian countries has almost quadrupled in the first two quarters of this year.

Most of the liquefied natural gas needed in this region is supplied from the Persian Gulf; Therefore, the countries of the region had to "change their course more quickly". This was stated by Tess Carter, Deputy Director of Energy and Climate at Rhodium Group.

Gross said it will take time to see real evidence of an accelerating shift away from oil and gas. Wide transition to electric cars and comprehensive changes in electric grids are time-consuming processes.

"But I expect that to happen," he added.

return of coal; On the other side of the story

However, there is also a downside. The transition to alternative energy options has not only meant the use of renewable energies; Some countries have switched to coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.

Global coal demand is now forecast to increase by around 1.2% in 2026. This figure is in contrast to the previous forecasts, which indicated a slight decrease in demand.

There is also a possibility that the demand for oil and gas will increase sharply again. The International Energy Agency predicts that oil demand will improve in 2027.

The world has experienced such a situation before after major crises. Some environmentalists had hoped that the corona pandemic would trigger a transition to clean energy, but instead, demand for fossil fuels increased in 2021.

The durability of these changes may depend on how long the war lasts. According to the analysis of the DNV company, with each passing month of the war, the possibility of permanent destruction of oil demand increases; A term that refers to a structural and sustainable reduction in demand.

"For example, if the war lasts four years, our analysis shows that oil demand will never return to 2025 levels," said DNV's Alwick.

A world that can no longer ignore the vulnerability of oil and gas

Some hope that, regardless of what happens next, more lasting changes have already taken place in the world.

Iran has shown that to disrupt a waterway, only drones and missiles are needed, and not necessarily a powerful navy.

"The world can no longer ignore what has happened, and the supply of oil and natural gas appears to be much more insecure than it was before the war," said Gross of the Brookings Institution.

Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University, said the conflict "could have a lasting impact, as dozens of countries are now promoting incentives for electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and electrification in general."

However, he considers it "ridiculous" to think of Trump becoming a president who unwittingly acts in the interest of the climate.

According to Jackson, Trump may have accelerated the adoption of clean energy abroad, but inside the United States, he has severely undermined green energy infrastructure and programs, "setting us back decades."

"The forces driving green energy around the world — cleaner, cheaper fuels — will ultimately win out, Trump notwithstanding," he concluded.