The energy transition is one of the world’s greatest collective challenges. BCG develops solutions with clients by integrating financial, technological, economical, and societal considerations to ensure a just energy transition.
The energy industry is at the heart of a sweeping transformation—an energy transition where industry lines are blurring and new ecosystems and players are emerging. We are enabling a global transformation that achieves positive climate impact while balancing sustainability, affordability, and reliability.
Energy transition is extraordinarily complex. It takes partners who are willing to step into the unknown and leverage both existing thinking and new innovations. Our approach blends strategy and implementation, and combines technical enablers—such as new low carbon technologies and artificial intelligence—with the best of human capabilities.
We consult on the full spectrum of energy transition services, including decarbonization solutions and corresponding business opportunities across industries. Our decarbonization efforts focus on scaling up new businesses and technologies such as carbon capture, hydrogen, large scale renewables, and energy storage. In addition, we work with clients on an array of strategic enablers such as workforce evolution, business resilience, and transparent, sustainable supply chains.
The energy transition requires reengineering processes, reorganizing for innovation and agility, and rethinking roles—and goals. It requires emerging technologies and a new culture, one that lets you more easily identify—and more quickly seize—new business opportunities. To accelerate the journey, we explore how to support the transition along four key areas:
Define the ambition, strategy, and roadmap. We help develop an energy transition strategy at both the corporate and national levels, with optimized approaches for today and into the future. Whether it’s an equitable energy transition, a net-zero roadmap, or—as in most cases—both, we identify the best path forward while ensuring uninterrupted access to reliable, affordable energy. We assess initiatives and opportunities, set targets, develop business cases, identify technical requirements, set timelines, and design a target operating model. We help you set—and achieve—your vision.
Make the core business sustainable. There’s no textbook model for decarbonization, but there is a set of abatement measures, including new energy transition technologies and low- or zero-carbon fuels. The key is to know when and how to apply these levers. We develop emissions baselines and leverage advanced analytics to identify an effective—and affordable—framework for reducing direct (Scope 1), indirect (Scope 2), and supply chain (Scope 3) emissions.
Build new sustainable businesses. The energy transition isn’t a cost but a spark—one that ignites new business models and new routes to value. We zero in on the opportunities the energy transition presents, in such areas as biofuels and bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and e-fuels, and new infrastructure and networks for use with renewables. The path forward may differ from client to client, but one idea is central to all our work: an energy transition strategy is a value creation strategy.
Enable the transformation. Putting plans into action requires the right skills, resources, roles, and support (from the C-suite down). We develop not only the technical and human capabilities that foster speed and agility—from AI and digital platforms to organizational design and governance—but also a culture of experimentation and responsiveness to change.
We partner with companies, governments, and organizations around the globe to support—and empower—sustainability leaders. We have successfully supported clients in reducing emissions and expanding their low-carbon technology projects, thereby unlocking new efficiencies, opportunities, and value. Here are a few examples of our work:
Eneco, a Rotterdam-based energy company, recently announced an ambitious plan to become carbon neutral by 2035. BCG’s Christophe Brognaux spoke with As Tempelman, Eneco’s CEO, to learn the story behind the “One Planet” plan—and why Tempelman believes it’s so important to act now on climate change and jump-start energy transitions in every industry.
Industry players have come together to create a $1 billion fund that will pilot, deploy, and scale new emission-reduction technologies—accelerating the global energy transition.
We work with a broad range of bespoke tools to help our clients navigate the energy transition, including:
In partnership with OGCI, BCG has designed a CCUS hub that takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from several different emitters and transports and stores it using common infrastructure to accelerate the global energy transition.
BCG’s artificial intelligence solution enables organizations to measure, simulate, reduce, track, and report their environmental footprint—and to advance their energy transition strategy.
BCG’s team specializes in energy transition consulting and helps clients successfully navigate the equitable energy transition. Here is our leader on the topic:
BCG’s Patrick Herhold and ACWA Power’s Paddy Padmanathan discuss what increasingly expensive fossil fuels and rapidly accelerating green technologies mean for the public and private sectors.
Geopolitical uncertainty and market volatility are pressing concerns for business leaders. But with the future of the planet at stake, climate action must remain a top priority.
Eight realities are shaping the “energy trilemma.” Here’s how business and government can keep the energy transition on track.
To successfully adapt their HR strategies and operating models for a decarbonizing world, companies must ensure that the new approaches make sense for all parts of the organization.
