For decades, climate advocates, researchers and other stakeholders have struggled with one challenge: how to make people care about a problem that seems likely to affect someone else in 2050? It turns out that the answer is now emerging – and not from an advertising idea or a new study, but from a war.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, European households learned something that years of green transition talks had failed to teach – that energy is not just a policy discussion. It is what you pay to stay warm in winter. For years, Europe treated its 40% reliance on Russian gas as regular business, but the war changed everything. When Russia began throttling supplies to Europe for its political stance, switching to renewables stopped being a moral choice for the planet and became a matter of national survival. Renewable investment accelerated. Policy moved at a speed that climate targets alone never could have accomplished.

Now, that same lesson, in a way, seems to be hitting India harder and faster.

The recent strikes in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – have brought energy into the headlines – with oil prices crossing the $100 mark and thousands of ships stuck, the crisis has hit Indian kitchens. For a country that relies on imports for nearly 87% of its crude, the impacted supplies from the Strait of Hormuz are a direct reason for the sudden, massive pressure on petrol prices and LPG costs in cities across India today.

While the situation in the Gulf remains fluid, it has already delivered a sharp reality check. For those of us trying to communicate the energy transition, two hard truths have become inescapable.