Energy transition progress is fragmenting and becoming increasingly uneven. In this year’s Energy Transition Index (ETI), only 24% of countries improved simultaneously across security, affordability and sustainability, while the enabling conditions that drive future progress, policy, finance, innovation and infrastructure have weakened for the first time in over a decade.
The headline numbers still impress. Global energy investment reached $3.3 trillion in 2025, renewables and nuclear generated 42% of electricity, and renewable energy capacity increased by nearly 800 gigawatts (GW).1 Yet these gains sit alongside mounting constraints. Grid congestion, permitting delays, capital concentration and chronic underinvestment in emerging economies continue to slow delivery. Newer pressures are compounding these challenges: by late 2025 and early 2026, trade restrictions affected $2.6 trillion of global commerce, while export controls covered more than half of critical transition minerals. At the same time, finance, regulation and innovation weakened simultaneously, pointing to broader erosion in readiness.
