As the wars in Ukraine and Gaza show, energy markets are highly vulnerable to geopolitical developments.
At the same time, energy is the main driver of global geopolitical competition — a point that Helen Thompson of the University of Cambridge has often highlighted. The rivalry between the United States and China is no exception.
The relationship between energy and geopolitics came to the fore during the Industrial Revolution. Western countries harnessed wind, coal and steam power to increase productivity sharply and achieve unprecedented prosperity at home, while colonizing faraway lands and appropriating their resources. It was control over energy that enabled the West to consolidate its economic, political, military and scientific dominance over the rest of the world.