For several years, BloombergNEF has partnered with The Hawthorn Club to provide stronger platforms for women’s voices in the energy transition – from the BNEF Summit series to The Hawthorn Club’s executive women’s networking events.
Today, we’re pleased to announce the release of Global Trends in the Energy Transition, a jointly authored white paper that distils the views of some 75 female leaders in the energy sector, from North America, Europe and Australia. The paper draws on discussions held at the 2019 Hawthorn Club Global Summit, which took place in New York City in March, and highlights how the global energy transition is proceeding in different regions. Leading participants included representatives from Microsoft, ExxonMobil, EnergyAustralia, DBL Partners, Woodside, Lightsource BP, EDF, Salesforce, Shell and Macquarie Capital.
There are many common threads across the three regions: renewable energy is winning the cost race globally; digitalization is increasingly an imperative for energy companies; commodity markets, from oil and gas to metals, are starting to be shaped by the energy transition.
However, there are also some distinct regional stories. For example, the energy transition conversation in Australia continues to be highly politicized, with climate change a hot-button issue on the national stage. In contrast, northern European governments are largely committed to climate action – though recent events show that there is a younger generation of citizens emerging, who demand much greater commitment. There is also a mixed picture when it comes to electric vehicles. The EV market is growing rapidly in the U.S. and Europe, driven by supportive policies and the investments of automakers in launching new EV models – but progress in Australia is much slower.
The full report can be accessed here, and contains the complete range of views from the international group of executive women in energy.