While 2050 seems far off, companies need to align strategically to operationalise their tactics for tomorrow. Given the current landscape, we have been working on a simplified framework approach to achieving the net carbon future objectives of any energy company.

The simplified net-carbon zero framework is focused on three main pillars:

Tactical areas to deliver the grand strategy.

In any important definition of a strategy, it’s paramount for an organisation to define the goals, metrics and a roadmap. It must assess risks and the feasibility of the achieving the goals and define the 

 on which to focus in the long-term, while the short-term is supported by the core business. To enable the strategy, all the stakeholders will need to be involved, from shareholders, customers and suppliers to employees.

With the Greenhouse Gas Protocol in place, energy companies are looking to reduce carbon emissions not only across their operations (Scope 1 emissions) but also in their supply-chain (Scopes 2 and 3). Two other factors will be critical to enable the strategy as not all organisations have the capabilities to implement its strategy. It is important, therefore, to define partnerships and work closely with policy makers, regulators, competition and adjacent industries. In this context, we will be entering a time of cooperation vs competition, that is highly required in order to accelerate the path to carbon neutrality.

Finally, energy companies have seven tactical options to drive energy transition. These are investments in renewable energy, focus on energy efficiency, alternative fuels, digitalisation, negative emission solutions, electrification of mobility and battery storage. There are a further three drivers of the transition, namely shareholder and consumer pull, and policy design push that represent the stimulus that will speed the urgency of responding to the tactical drivers.

While sentiment among the energy companies is changing, investments remain low when compared to the size of their overall CapEx budgets. The International Energy Agency has stated that investment to date by oil and gas companies outside their core business areas is less than 1% of total capital spend. According to analysts a much more significant change in overall capital allocation would be required to accelerate energy transitions.

There has been a regional strategy, particularly in oil and gas American based companies versus European companies.

American oil and gas companies continue to focus on traditional activities, including:

Increasing the efficiency of their operations

Decarbonising these operations to extend the life of their business

Responding to government, societal and financing pressures.

European players have been developing new business models and risk-reducing low-carbon technologies extending beyond their core traditional activities. In the future, we believe companies will need to take steps to MEASURE, QUANTIFY, STRATEGISE, RESPOND and IMPLEMENT net-zero initiatives.

The future business models will be quite different from the ones we see today:

While the shape of business models will differ, one thing is certain, all the oil and gas companies we know today will be more sustainable and carbon conscious in 2050. The roadmap seems to be taking shape in most organizations, but two factors will determine the highest value players: persistence in defining the new bets and consistency in embracing a climate focused culture and governance.

Energy Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy & Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

Pathways for the future energy organisations – Persistence and Consistency 

To assess the future pathway for a net-zero future by 2050, Filipe Mota da Silva surveyed 50 Global Energy Leaders and identified 15 key driving forces that can accelerate or urge the speed the world can achieve a net-carbon zero future.

The world is undergoing an energy transition, from a system based on fossil fuels to a system based on renewable and sustainable energy, to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and avoid the most serious impacts of a rapidly changing climate. Recently companies and governments around the global have been committing to achieve a “net-zero target by 2050”. The term embraces the concept that any GHG emissions are balanced by absorbing, or physically capturing, an equivalent amount from the atmosphere by 2050. This is required to meet the 1.5°C global warming target in the Paris Agreement, global carbon emissions should reach net-zero around mid-century.

Figure 1. – Survey Map of the transition driving forces to achieve a net carbon zero in 2050

To assess the future pathway for a net-zero future by 2050, I surveyed 50 Global Energy Leaders and identified 15 key driving forces that can accelerate or urge the speed the world can achieve a net-carbon zero future.

I identified 15 driving forces that will shape and accelerate the pathway to achieve a net-carbon zero target by 2050.

Impact – measures quantitatively the influence of a driving force in helping achieve a net-carbon zero target

Uncertainty – measures quantitatively the probability that a driving force will stimulate a net-carbon zero target 

Urgency – measures quantitatively how fast the driving force needs to occur to achieve a net-carbon zero target.

In the survey map, there are four areas where Energy Leaders are currently focusing:

 – forces that are certain to happen in the short-term and have low to medium impact to achieve a net-carbon zero future.

 – forces with low to medium impact and highly uncertain to happen in the short-term.

 – initiatives with high impact and uncertain to happen/impact net-carbon zero future.

– forces that the highest potential impact in the business and low uncertainty

The size of the bubble represents the urgency of this issue to accelerate the urgency.

 is the quadrant driven by forces such as shareholders pull, negative emission technologies, consumer pull, cybersecurity and circular economy. The last three are highly urgent. This is supported by the fact that these three forces not only can shape but also disrupt the current energy system and accelerate the speed of a net-carbon zero by 2050.

 are initiatives that Leaders consider will provide a high impact and can accelerate the speed of the net-zero carbon target by 2050. It is less uncertain given some of these forces are provided concepts of their potential impact. Such issues are driven by regulatory push created by a need for more sustainability and carbon target compliance, renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions.

 are identified by forces with relevant impacts and low uncertainty and hence where Leaders are acting today: data management, IoT and 5G digitalisation solutions critical for resources optimisation, as well as grid management. Additionally, the electrification of mobility is the force that keeps Energy Leaders awake at night given the impact is already taken on reshaping the energy infrastructure system.

is the quadrant driven by three forces: shareholders pull, behavioural changes, smart grids and blockchain are highly uncertain to bring an immediate impact given the maturity of these forces across the globe.

The survey was taken in the week of 17th May 2021 from 50 Global Energy Leaders across the globe, working in the energy sector, and based on the following 15 driving forces and market dynamics.

Negative emission solutions include solutions that neutralise the carbon emissions, for example: carbon capture sequestration and storage (CCUS), reforestation, ocean fertilisation. These technologies have a low degree of maturity, but the CCUS technologies alone are projected to be a $6 billion dollar market with a yearly growth of 27%.



These include biofuels, and LNG but not hydrogen. The use of alternative fuels can reduce at least 40% of the emissions. According to the International Energy Agency, biofuel production would need to triple by 2030 to meet targets for sustainable growth. Biofuels are somewhat controversial in the environmental movement due to the food versus fuel debate.



 Hydrogen is one of the most important of such fuels, as it can provide a viable solution for the aviation sector, one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise. Hydrogen can also be a critical element for the decarbonisation and electrification of cities

On top of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2016 by 198 countries to maintain the increase in global average temperature within 2C, individual countries are implementing domestic environmental policies and funding various sectors, e.g. EU Green deal investment plan of €1 Trillion to finance and design green polices;  UK banning diesel vehicles in 2050, and has issued net carbon directives for the construction sector.

A group of 70 pension funds and insurance responsible for $3 trillion in investments are committed to migrating to a net carbon zero portfolio. Top major oil and gas companies created OGCI, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative to accelerate response to climate change.

Energy efficiency has an enormous potential. The energy savings from net zero housing can reduce heating costs by 75% to 90%, and these new dwellings also have a much longer life-span. The market for energy efficiency investment in 2011 was $360 billion according IEA.

Digitalisation is a pervasive trend and technologies like loT and 5G are already contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions, by making remote operations viable and reducing signal delays. IoT and 5G will be critical to facilitate integration of renewables into the grid.

Today the share of renewable energy in the power sector is expected to increase from 31% to 100% by 2050, mostly through solar and wind power generation. It will only be possible to achieve this with new approaches to the power system, market operations and regulation.

There is a growing public demand for organizations, cities, and countries for a rapid transition to net carbon future. Strikes and global protests have increased globally. Prosumers will define the way some of the utility companies need to operate in the future.

The EU has invested heavily in the electrification of mobility by providing extensive support for electric vehicle research and ecosystem operators. However, there are still bottlenecks in the grid and in the technologies, arising from the need for battery life, charging stations, home charging, smart grid connections. Vehicle design and human-car interaction will continue to evolve, increasingly reinforcing the attractiveness of these technologies.

The optimal storage of energy that balances demand and supply is at the centre of this transformation. For example, storage is a key enabling technology for the advancement of hydrogen as a fuel and fuel cells. Recognising the pivotal role of storage technologies, venture capital firms poured nearly $2 billion into battery technology companies in 2019, doubling the amount the year before.

Digitalisation brings many benefits to the electricity system but raises risks such as cybersecurity that threat the infrastructure resilience. Cyberattacks are among the top ten global risks. Research from Hornet Security, a German cloud security vendor, identifies energy as the number one target for cyberattacks, attracting 16% of all attacks worldwide.

Recent studies have shown that human behaviour is as important as the physical characteristics of a building in influencing energy use, and that carbon emissions from houses are most sensitive to internal temperature changes, largely dependent on human behaviour. Also, corporate patterns can change the way we consume energy from travel to new habits.

It is estimated that more than 700 million smart meters will be installed globally by 2020, leading to +360 petabyte of data a year. TM Research predicts that the global utility company expenditure on data and analytics will grow to USD $3.8B in 2021. A well-defined data management framework would consider the prioritisation of data, its classification, required storage, analysis, and architecture. Doing it will help energy companies realise significant cost savings and energy data processing optimisation while developing a state of art data process.

Circular economy could help the industry better address long-standing challenges around improving efficiency and reducing the need for rare, raw materials (like cobalt for EV batterie). Circular economy which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products if possible.

This article first appeared on CMarkits. Energy Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Energy & Sustainability writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

Transition driving forces: The road for net zero in 2050

a Consulting Leader for Energy, Resources, and Utilities in the UK and the EU

. He is an Advisory Board Member of the prestigious 

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Filipe Mota da Silva

Filipe Mota da Silva

Transition driving forces: The road for net zero in 2050

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