If the period of the COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity for accelerated digitalization, we all probably still remember Satya Nadella’s statement that in just a few months we experienced several years’ worth of digital progress. The crisis therefore acted as an accelerator of changes that would otherwise have taken significantly longer.
Today, it seems that we are living through a similar moment. As we watch rising energy prices and the uncertainty caused by tensions in the Middle East, the question is increasingly being asked whether we are facing a new acceleration, this time in energy. Are current circumstances pushing us toward a faster shift to electricity, toward what in the European Union we call the green transition?
At first glance, the answer seems simple. More expensive and unstable fossil fuels should logically lead to the search for alternatives. Electrification, renewable energy sources, and sustainable solutions are becoming not only an environmental necessity, but also an economic and political choice.
The green transition is being accelerated by energy crises, but it is also creating a new dependency on critical raw materials. The question is no longer only about sustainability, but also about control over resources, technology, and power.
And yet, the picture is far more complex.
If in the past we were dependent on oil, today a new question arises: is that dependency merely being reshaped? Lithium, cobalt, copper, and rare earths, the raw materials essential for batteries and electrical infrastructure, are becoming the new oil of the modern world. The difference lies not so much in the logic as in the geography and the control. The question, therefore, is no longer only how much energy we have, but who controls the resources, the technology, and the routes to them.
The green transition is thus increasingly appearing as something more than just an environmental project. It is becoming a geopolitical story. Energy, raw materials, and regulation are intertwining into a new power relationship in which countries and companies compete for access, influence, and strategic autonomy.
And perhaps this is precisely where the key question lies. Are we truly on the path toward a more sustainable future, or are we merely replacing one dependency with another?
If oil was yesterday the symbol of power, tomorrow it will be batteries. The only difference is that this time we may believe we have solved the problem, while in reality we will merely have shifted it elsewhere.
.png)