Brenda Shaffer: Energy crisis linked to insufficient attention to energy security

The current energy crisis is not directly linked to wars, but rather to insufficient attention to energy security, Professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School and member of the American Political Science Association Brenda Shaffer said at the CAMCA Regional Forum 2026 in Baku.

Report quotes her as saying it would be incorrect to attribute rising energy prices solely to wars.

"The current energy crisis is the result of our failure to prepare our markets to ensure energy security. We stopped paying sufficient attention to it," she said.

Shaffer noted that significant oil and gas reserves were discovered in Africa, including East Africa, in the 2010s, which, in her view, could have replaced a substantial share of supplies from the Middle East.

"But because we were guided by the concept of transitioning to renewable energy, and the governments of the G7 countries, the EU and international organizations such as the World Bank stopped providing public funding for fossil fuel-related projects, we are facing the current crisis as a result," she said.

According to the professor, wars and various crises cannot be completely prevented, but energy vulnerability could have been reduced.

"There will always be wars. There will always be some kind of crisis. This cannot be prevented. But what could have been prevented was energy vulnerability," Shaffer stressed.