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The new energy system : Navigating the shift from molecules to electrons
11/06/2026
Michael Lewis
Head of Research, ESG
Steffen Kutscher
Head of Stewardship – Standards & Processes
IN A NUTSHELL
- Electricity is emerging as the central pillar of the global energy system, powering transport, buildings, industry and digital infrastructure alike
- Supported by energy security priorities, policy frameworks and the accelerated build-out of clean power generation, electrification is advancing simultaneously across multiple sectors
- As a result, demand is increasingly converging on the same underlying value chain — spanning critical minerals, electrical equipment, power generation and grids
- This convergence is exposing structural bottlenecks, particularly in networks and material processing, shaping both the pace of the transition and where investment risks and opportunities emerge along the energy value chain
We would like to thank Eugene Bidchenco & Jana Rietow, Liquid Real Assets and Yogendar Khairari and Bharat Shah, CROCI Research for their valuable research contributions and insights.
Introduction
The global energy system is undergoing a fundamental transformation. A system long dominated by fossil fuels is increasingly powered by electricity. Electricity’s role as an important energy carrier is therefore permeating across multiple sectors and is becoming the backbone of energy use across large parts of the real economy.
This change is already visible across multiple sectors. Buildings are now the single largest source of electricity demand globally, while electrification in transport is accelerating, driven by the rapidly growing energy demands of the global electric vehicle fleet. Industrial processes are beginning to follow a similar path, as electrified solutions expand beyond niche applications. At the same time, the rapid growth of digital infrastructure, driven by cloud computing, data centres and artificial intelligence, is adding a new, highly concentrated source of electricity demand.
Crucially, these developments are no longer unfolding in isolation. Electrification is driving a growing convergence of demand from buildings, transport, industry and digital infrastructure onto the same underlying value chain. Critical minerals, electrical equipment, power generation and grids are increasingly shared system foundations for the multiple sectors competing for the same capacity simultaneously.