Future Forces 2023: The megatrends shaping the energy industry

Geopolitical and geoeconomic factors-for example, deglobalisation, economic sanctions and a renewed emphasis in many countries on achieving energy security have changed markets for the foreseeable future.

The more immediate changes arise in the context of an increasing push behind the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Industry executives know their businesses need to enable and preferably lead that transition while ensuring they can meet existing energy needs in developed and developing countries alike.

Energy firms' ability to achieve that, and to deliver on their top and bottom line growth objectives over the long term, hinges on a number of factors. These include making investment decisions about technologies that will help reduce carbon emissions and securing the talent needed to work effectively with those technologies.

Some key takeaways

• Recent geopolitical factors have renewed energy security concerns globally. The surveyed executives say that national security is the topmost geopolitical and macroeconomic concern facing their businesses.
• Technological advances, such as battery storage and renewable energy technologies (43%) are already key enablers of the net zero transition.
• Energy executives see the largest business opportunity coming from fast-changing cities (48%), due in part to rising urban demand for energy and associated innovative solutions.