One month of US-Israel war against Iran, at least 60 countries took emergency measures in response to the next glob energy crisisaccording to Carbon Brief’s analysis.

So far, these countries have announced almost 200 policies to save fuel, support consumers and increase domestic energy supplies.

The Carbon Brief relied on tracking by International Energy Agency (IEA) and other sources for assessing global policy responses, as well as a temporary ceasefire is announced.

With the beginning of the war at the end of February both parties bombed vital energy infrastructure across the region as Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about a fifth part of world trade in oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

This made it impossible to export normal volumes of fossil fuels from the region and, as a consequence, led to a sharp rise in prices.

About 30 nations, from Norway to Zambiacut fuel taxes to help people struggling with rising prices, making it the most common domestic policy response to the crisis.

Some countries have emphasized the need to activate internal construction of renewable energy, others – including Japan, Italy and South Korea – decided to rely more on coal, at least in the short term.

The most extensive responses were in Asia, where countries that to hope a lot on fossil fuel from the Middle East was implemented driving bans, fuel rationing and closing schools in order to reduce demand.

“The Biggest Failure”

February 28 USA and Israel launched surprise attack on Iran, provoking a conflict in the Middle East and causing shock around the world.

There have been numerous attacks on energy infrastructure, including an Iranian attack on the world’s largest LNG plant in Qatar and an Israeli attack bombing gas fields of Iran.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a bottleneck in the Persian Gulf, is causing what the IEA has is called “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”

The fifth part of the world oil and LNG usually shipped through this region, with 90% of these shipments is going to destinations in Asia. Without these supplies, fuel prices soared.

Governments around the world have taken extraordinary measures in response to this new energy crisis, protecting their citizens from price spikes, conserving energy where possible and considering longer-term energy policies.

Even with a a two-week ceasefire announced, there is an energy crisis is expected to continue given the significant infrastructure damage and continued uncertainty.

Asian crunch

Used Carbon Brief tracking IEA, news, government announcements and internal monitoring of the think tank E3G to assess the range of national responses to the energy crisis about a month into the Iran war.

Carbon Brief found 185 in total are relevant policies, announcements and campaigns from 60 national governments.

As the map below shows, these measures are concentrated in East and South Asia. These regions face the most severe disruptions, largely due to their dependence on oil and gas supplies from the Middle East.

Nations including Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and India are already emerging expenses billions of dollars in fuel subsidies to protect people from rising costs.

At least 16 Asian countries are also taking drastic measures to reduce fuel consumption. For example, there is in the Philippines declared a “state of national emergency” that includes limiting air conditioning in public buildings and subsidizing public transportation.

Other examples from the region include the government of Bangladesh with a request to the population and businesses to avoid unnecessary lighting, Pakistan speed reduction on motorways and Laos encouraging people to work from home.

Europe, which is badly affected by 2022 energy crisis thanks to his support for Russian gas – less directly exposed to the current crisis than Asia. However, many peoples still highly dependent for gas, including supplies from Qatar.

There is a continent already feeling the effects of higher global energy prices as countries compete for more limited resources.

At least 18 European countries have introduced measures to help people with rising prices. Spain that is relatively isolated nevertheless, from the crisis due to the high share of renewable energy sources in the electricity supply announced a €5 billion aid package containing at least six consumer support measures.

Many African countries, although less dependent on direct fossil fuel supplies via the Strait of Hormuz than Asia, are still facing strain of higher import bills. Some, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia, are too facing hard fuel lack of.

Were fewer new policies across America, which has thus far been relatively insulated from the energy crisis. one emission it is Chile, which is one of the largest importers of fuel in the region and thus more exposed to global price increases.

Tax cuts

The most common type of policy response to the energy crisis so far has been efforts to protect people and businesses from fuel price spikes.

At least 28 nations, including Italy, Brazil and Australiaintroduced a total of 31 measures to reduce taxes – and, accordingly, prices – for fuel.

Even across Africa, where government revenues are already stretched, some countries – including Namibia and South Africa – reduce fuel taxes to stabilize prices.

Another 17 countries, incl Mexico and of Polanddirectly limited the price of fuel. Others such as France and Great Britainopted for more targeted fuel subsidies designed to support certain vulnerable populations and industries.

All of these measures are shown in the dark blue “customer support” columns in the chart below.

Such measures may directly help consumers, but few leaders, NGO and financial experts noted that there is also a risk of them stimulating inflation and reinforcing reliance on the existing fossil fuel based system.

Christine Lagardepresident of St European Central Bank, said in favor of short-term measures to “smooth the shock”, but noted that “broad and open-ended measures could excessively increase demand”.

Energy conservation measures of the type that many developing countries in Asia have widely implemented described IEA as “more efficient and financially sustainable than broad subsidies”.

So far, at least 23 such measures have been introduced to limit the use of transport, in particular private cars.

This includes Lithuania reduction of train fares, two Australian states make public transport free and Myanmar and South Korea asking people to drive cars only on certain days.

Pure against coal

According to Carbon Brief’s analysis, at least eight countries have announced plans to either increase their use of coal or revise existing plans to phase out coal. This includes Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Germany and Italy.

These measures are wide-ranging delay the closing of coal plants, as in Italy, or allowing older facilities operate at higher rates as in Japan – instead of building more coal-fired power plants.

Was extensive coverage on how the energy crisis is “turning Asia back to coal.” However, how Bloomberg columnist David Fickling noted that this shift is relatively small and will likely be offset by a shift to cheap solar power in the long run.

Indeed, against the background of the crisis caused by the rising cost of fossil fuel imports, some countries have begun to consider the possibility of changing the way they use energy in the future.

Leaders of India, Barbados and Great Britain is obvious emphasized the importance of a structural shift towards the use of clean energy. Governments of France and Philippines are among those linking announcements of new renewable energy sources to the unfolding crisis.

New renewable energy capacity will take time to get up and running, though much less time than developing new fossil fuel generation. Meanwhile, some countries are also taking short-term measures to make their road transport less dependent on fossil fuels.

For example, the Chilean government has is included taxi drivers will receive a preferential loan for the purchase of electric vehicles (EM). Cambodia reduced taxes on the import of electric cars and Laos reduced excise duties on them.

Finally, there are some signs that countries are reconsidering their future dependence on fossil fuel imports given the current oil and gas economy.

The New Zealand government has shown that the plan to build a new LNG terminal by 2027 now faces uncertainty. Reuters Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup has reportedly told the government it wants to abandon plans to build a new LNG-powered power plant in Vietnam in favor of renewables.