Global Poll Shows 91% of Business Leaders Back Electrification for Energy Security

A landmark survey of 1,994 business executives across 18 countries commissioned by E3G, the We Mean Business Coalition and the Global Renewables Alliance has found that 91 percent of global business leaders say electrification would improve energy security, with 79 percent reporting that geopolitical instability has made their own business shift to electrification more urgent. The polling, conducted during late April 2026 as the Strait of Hormuz remained closed, found that 90 percent of business leaders expect their operations to be largely electrified by 2035 and 88 percent say electrification is likely to make their business more competitive. However, 72 percent of those surveyed say government policies are moving too slowly on electrification to support the pace businesses need, with 69 percent saying businesses are electrifying faster than governments are preparing power systems for.

 

The Core Business Case for Electrification

 

The survey findings reveal that business leaders across all 18 polled countries now associate electrification with multiple commercial benefits beyond climate objectives. Ninety percent say the shift to a renewables-based electricity system in their country is likely to boost economic growth, 84 percent say electrification would reduce long-term operating costs and 80 percent expect electrification to create jobs in their business. The breadth of this commercial conviction, spanning energy security, cost stability, competitiveness and growth, reflects a fundamental reframing of the electrification decision from climate commitment to strategic business imperative in an era of recurring fossil fuel price shocks.

Dimitri de Vreeze, Chief Executive Officer of dsm-firmenich, said businesses today are operating in a structurally more volatile energy landscape where continued reliance on fossil fuels exposes companies and economies to recurring shocks, and that the transition to renewable energy and particularly electrification using clean power is the most pragmatic way to strengthen resilience, improve cost stability and sustain competitiveness. He said the technology is available but what is missing is a consistent long-term policy framework that gives businesses the confidence to invest and scale at speed. José Manuel Entrecanales, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ACCIONA, described dependence on imported fuels as a strategic vulnerability and unnecessary burden, saying access to abundant, affordable electricity is emerging as a decisive competitive advantage and that electrification is not merely an energy transition but an industrial strategy.

 

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The Grid Gap and Policy Barriers

 

Expanding and future-proofing electricity grids ranked as the top policy measure businesses say would help them accelerate electrification, with 89 percent supporting grid upgrades and more than half citing insufficient grid capacity as a barrier to electrification. Nick Mabey, Chief Executive Officer of E3G, said the findings reveal a powerful global consensus among business leaders and that governments navigating their way out of the fossil fuel crisis need to take this message to heart and remove the barriers to progress, starting with building out grid capacity. The top five policy barriers identified by respondents are insufficient government incentives or support, insufficient government investment in grid upgrades, policy instability when governments change, delays or unpredictability in permitting processes and carbon pricing uncertainty.

The top five policy solutions identified by business leaders align closely with the barriers, encompassing expanding and future-proofing electricity grids, government grants and subsidies to reduce upfront costs, clear long-term government planning and timelines, lower electricity prices and faster grid connection and planning approvals. The consistency between identified barriers and requested solutions suggests that business leaders have a clear and concrete understanding of the infrastructure and regulatory conditions needed to accelerate electrification, rather than expressing generic frustration with government inaction. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they would consider moving operations if their government did not offer sufficient support to electrify, with 58 percent of US business leaders and 65 percent of Australian business leaders indicating they would consider relocation, reflecting the commercial seriousness of the electrification policy gap.

 

Geographic Highlights and Emerging Market Ambition

 

The polling reveals that businesses in emerging markets are among the most ambitious on electrification globally, with 99 percent of Indonesian and Nigerian business leaders expecting to electrify operations by 2035 or earlier, followed by the Philippines at 97 percent, India at 96 percent and Colombia and South Africa both at 95 percent. Indonesian businesses are particularly ambitious, with 63 percent expecting to electrify by 2027 and 91 percent by 2030, while 97 percent say electrification would make their business more competitive. The strength of electrification ambition in emerging markets reflects the particular vulnerability of fossil fuel-importing economies to price shocks and supply disruptions and the significant cost advantages that domestic renewable electricity generation can offer relative to imported fossil fuel alternatives.

In advanced economies, US businesses bucked domestic political headwinds with 88 percent expecting to electrify by 2035 or earlier and 91 percent saying electrification would make their business more competitive, the highest among advanced economies. Chinese businesses showed similarly strong support with 92 percent expecting to electrify by 2035 and 91 percent backing electrification as a competitiveness driver. European businesses see electrification as central to competitiveness and energy security but warn that infrastructure and policy systems are not moving fast enough, with 78 percent of German businesses, 75 percent in France and 74 percent in Poland saying governments are moving too slowly.

 

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The Renewables Preference and Policy Recommendations

 

Globally, 82 percent of business leaders want their country powered mainly by renewables-based electricity, with 63 percent wanting governments to shift away from fossil fuels by 2035 and 90 percent supporting greater investment in solar and 81 percent in onshore wind. Support for renewables-based electricity systems is particularly strong across emerging economies, where 86 percent of business leaders preferred renewables over fossil fuels, above the global average and ahead of several advanced economies including the US at 77 percent, the UK at 76 percent, Australia at 75 percent, Germany at 73 percent and Japan at 69 percent. Maria Mendiluce, Chief Executive Officer of the We Mean Business Coalition, said the polling points to a profound shift in the global economic landscape where businesses increasingly see electrification as the foundation of future competitiveness, energy security and economic resilience.

Bruce Douglas, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Renewables Alliance, said businesses know which way the wind is blowing and that their competitiveness depends on how fast they can electrify with renewable energy, noting that the top request to governments is to build and modernise grids facilitating access to cheap, secure electricity. Stientje Van Veldhoven, Dutch Climate and Green Growth Minister, said the message from businesses is clear that in a world of fossil fuel volatility clean electrification is the smart choice for energy security, competitiveness and growth. The polling comes as the Turkish and Australian COP31 hosts and the International Renewables Agency have called for a stronger global push to run vehicles, industry and buildings on electricity rather than fossil fuels, with business sentiment now firmly aligned with this policy direction across all major economies and emerging markets surveyed.

 

Outlook for Business-Led Electrification

 

The survey's finding that businesses across 18 diverse economies from Indonesia to Poland to Nigeria consistently identify electrification as a commercial imperative rather than purely a sustainability commitment represents a significant evolution in how corporate decision-makers frame the energy transition. Whether governments can respond to this business demand with the grid investment, permitting reform and policy stability that executives identify as the critical enabling conditions will determine how quickly the commercial ambition expressed in this polling translates into actual electrification of industrial, commercial and transport systems globally. The convergence of fossil fuel price volatility, improving renewable energy economics and growing corporate electrification ambition creates conditions in which the policy gap between business readiness and government delivery is increasingly the binding constraint on the pace of the energy transition.

 

Source: PRNewswire