Energy security in a time of geopolitical instability
Clean technologies are scaling rapidly, but not at the same pace, from the same starting point or for the same reasons in every market. Different resources, infrastructure, economics and national priorities are producing fundamentally different energy choices. What is emerging is not one global transition at different speeds, but distinct models of energy resilience and affordability.
The latest Statistical Review of World Energy tells a story that many policymakers and business leaders may find uncomfortable. The world is investing in clean energy at unprecedented speed. Solar generation grew by 30% in 2025, battery capacity expanded by 66%, and electrification continues to accelerate. Yet fossil fuels still provide 86% of global energy supply. Energy demand continues to rise across every major source. So do emissions.
These apparently contradictory trends reflect what is happening beneath the global totals. Technologies are developing at very different speeds across markets, while countries are prioritising different combinations of affordability, security, growth and decarbonisation. The result is not one orderly transition, but increasingly divergent national energy strategies.
The biggest shift in energy today isn't the growth of renewables or the rise of AI. It's that countries are pursuing different pathways to energy security. The idea of a single, coordinated global transition is becoming harder to defend as a more fragmented and competitive energy system emerges.
The idea that the world is moving along a single, coordinated energy transition is becoming harder to defend.
Instead, we're seeing a more fragmented, regional and competitive energy system emerge.
