Energy Strategy for the Road Ahead
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Whereas energy was once managed as a cost, companies in every sector increasingly see it as a strategic risk—and even as a source of new value and opportunity. In "Energy Strategy for the Road Ahead," Global Business Network describes how this transformation might unfold in the next decade amid mounting geopolitical, technological, climatic, and energy uncertainties; the strategic challenges and options likely to arise; and what companies can do now to prepare.
The report summarizes a year-long project sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program. Senior executives from 20 major U.S. companies—including Merck, National Starch & Chemical, HSBC, and Toyota—along with energy experts from GBN and the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program examined the potential energy impacts that U.S. businesses may face over the next decade, based on four plausible scenarios of the world in 2020:
Scenario one: Current economic and energy trends continue with no major regulatory shifts in climate policy
Scenario two: Investment flows overseas make it difficult for most U.S. companies to adjust to an energy and carbon constrained world
Scenario three: Severe weather events and international economic crises bankrupt many U.S. companies and institutions
Scenario four: An innovative focus on clean and efficient technology fosters a new era of economic prosperity and self-reliance in a carbon-constrained global marketplace
The report identifies a set of strategies that businesses can employ to ensure energy success across these scenarios, then concludes with a check list of steps that executives, senior managers, and boards can take in four key areas:
1. Manage energy actively from your position
2. Make strategic energy management a board-level issue
3. Influence your industry
4. Use scenario thinking in your ongoing strategic discussions
“The relationship between energy, the world’s economies, and society is fundamentally changing,” says Peter Schwartz, chairman of GBN and former strategist for Royal Dutch/Shell. “This report encourages U.S. business leaders to reevaluate their current operations to determine if their businesses can survive an uncertain and potentially disruptive energy future.”
The report summarizes a year-long project sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program. Senior executives from 20 major U.S. companies—including Merck, National Starch & Chemical, HSBC, and Toyota—along with energy experts from GBN and the EPA’s ENERGY STAR program examined the potential energy impacts that U.S. businesses may face over the next decade, based on four plausible scenarios of the world in 2020:
Scenario one: Current economic and energy trends continue with no major regulatory shifts in climate policy
Scenario two: Investment flows overseas make it difficult for most U.S. companies to adjust to an energy and carbon constrained world
Scenario three: Severe weather events and international economic crises bankrupt many U.S. companies and institutions
Scenario four: An innovative focus on clean and efficient technology fosters a new era of economic prosperity and self-reliance in a carbon-constrained global marketplace
The report identifies a set of strategies that businesses can employ to ensure energy success across these scenarios, then concludes with a check list of steps that executives, senior managers, and boards can take in four key areas:
1. Manage energy actively from your position
2. Make strategic energy management a board-level issue
3. Influence your industry
4. Use scenario thinking in your ongoing strategic discussions
“The relationship between energy, the world’s economies, and society is fundamentally changing,” says Peter Schwartz, chairman of GBN and former strategist for Royal Dutch/Shell. “This report encourages U.S. business leaders to reevaluate their current operations to determine if their businesses can survive an uncertain and potentially disruptive energy future.”
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