Next Stop: Net Zero

World leaders, ministers and senior government officials recently gathered at the COP26 conference, held in Glasgow. The high-profile summit will catalyse action on climate change, placing the energy sector – which accounts for around three-quarters of all greenhouse gas emissions today – under particular scrutiny.

Energy suppliers will play a central role in realising global Net Zero ambitions, with government, consumers and investors all pushing for a concerted effort to reduce carbon emissions within the industry. As such, the industry is entering a period of disruption and transformation as firms look to realign their business models with these goals. Investment in digital business transformation will be a key feature in the ‘post COP26’ era, as businesses play their part in achieving global Net Zero emissions by 2050.

To find out how energy suppliers are responding to this change, we surveyed 375 CTOs, CDOs, CIOs and other digital decision makers across Europe, the UAE and Australia to find out their views on Net Zero, the solutions they need to enable it and the challenges that stand in their way when preparing a business case for digital business transformation, which is a holistic approach to changing the way an organisation thinks, organises, operates and behaves to become digital at the core.

The findings reveal a clear intent within the industry to deliver on Net Zero goals. Employing new technologies is central to their mission – almost nine in ten (86%) of the energy suppliers we surveyed say that digital business transformation will play a key role in achieving their company’s Net Zero ambitions.

Yet, while there is no denying the industry’s good intentions, the road to achieving their goals is less clear. Businesses are being held back by a lack of clarity around return on investment (ROI), insufficient in-house knowledge and a hesitancy to adopt an agile ‘test and learn’ approach when it comes to testing out new products with customers.

To unlock the opportunity, energy suppliers must learn from ‘Digital Natives’ who are clearing the path ahead. Leading firms have learnt to build their digital business proposition around the consumer, are unafraid to innovate and have the whole business on board with their mission.

While clearly a complex task, energy suppliers must strive to display these capabilities if they are to remain competitive in a radically changing business landscape. They can no longer be held back by indecision – but must embrace the opportunities that the Net Zero agenda presents to transform their business.