Open Letter: Security experts urge IEA to step up energy crisis response
14 April 2026
Sixteen independent energy security experts, including General Tom Middendorp (Ret.), member of the ESLC-E, former Netherlands Chief of Defence, Chairman of the International Military Council on Climate and Security, have written to Dr Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, urging a stronger response to the ongoing global oil and gas crisis.
The group of former military chiefs, academics, and geopolitics experts says that accelerating the transition to clean, safe, and affordable energy systems is a security imperative. It calls on the IEA to provide guidance to governments on how to reduce exposure to volatile oil and gas markets, as it did to the EU immediately after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The open letter says:
Recent escalations in the Gulf have exposed the dangers of dependence on oil and gas. Too much of the global economy relies on fuels transported through geopolitically contested chokepoints. The ongoing supply disruption has triggered energy shortages, fossilflation, and food insecurity worldwide.
The IEA’s initial response has not matched the scale of the crisis. Its coordinated release of oil reserves and advice on measures to save fuel are temporary fixes that do nothing to shield consumers from future shocks. Structural responses are needed.
Clean energy can cut household energy costs today and boost resilience to geopolitical risk. Homegrown renewables, efficiency, and electrification reduce import dependence and keep consumer bills low and predictable. Governments urgently need advice on how to accelerate the transition to clean, safe, affordable energy systems.
The IEA’s planned coordination with the World Bank and IMF must help get finance flowing towards immediate, lasting solutions to the crisis.
General Tom Middendorp (Ret.): “The energy transition is not only about climate — it is a strategic choice to reduce vulnerability and strengthen autonomy.”
Dr Pauline Heinrichs, Lecturer in War Studies (Climate and Energy), King's College London: “As war, fuel shortages and fossilflation hit people's lives and livelihoods, short-term fuel saving measures can only go so far. The International Energy Agency needs to be explicit about the cause of fossil fuel energy crises, namely fossil fuels.”