Game Changers in the Energy System

The report identifies three systemic shifts reshaping the energy landscape: the acceleration of low-carbon technologies, a revolution in urban mobility, and the fragmentation of energy markets. It argues that these trends are driven by falling technology costs, urbanization, and a shift from centralized scale to organizational agility. The document emphasizes that these changes will lead to a convergence of the power and transport sectors, a shift in energy security from resource access to technology access, and a need for incumbents to reorganize their business models to survive in a more volatile, localized market.

• Renewable energy costs are falling rapidly, with solar panel costs decreasing by over 80% since 2005. This has led to subsidy-free solar contracts, such as one in Coahuila, Mexico, priced at approximately $40 per MWh in early 2016.
• The Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are driving a shift where renewable power generation growth will exceed that of fossil fuels by 2030, increasing renewables' share of the power supply mix from 20% to roughly one-third.
• A 'mobility revolution' driven by electric vehicles (EVs), shared mobility, and autonomous driving could significantly reduce global liquids demand. If EVs represent 27% of new vehicle sales by 2035, combined with shared and autonomous vehicles, liquids demand could drop by 2 million barrels per day below business-as-usual scenarios, with a potential further reduction of 4 million barrels per day if technology costs decline faster.
• The energy system is shifting from concentrated ownership to fragmentation. This is evidenced by the rise of 'prosumers' who produce and sell electricity back to the grid, and a shift in the oil and gas sector where the number of publicly traded North American companies with over $1 billion in revenue grew from 26 in 2005 to 43 in 2015.
• Competitive advantage in the energy sector is shifting from scale to agility. This is supported by the development of small-scale LNG facilities that provide more economic sense in regions with vast distances, such as Australia, parts of the US, and developing areas in Africa and Asia.
• Energy security is evolving from a reliance on physical access to resources (like crude oil or uranium) toward access to technology, allowing countries to transform indigenous resources into power without expensive import agreements.

APA

World Economic Forum (2017). Game Changers in the Energy System. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Game_Changers_in_the_Energy_System.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Game Changers in the Energy System. 2017. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Game_Changers_in_the_Energy_System.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Game Changers in the Energy System |date=January 2017 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Game_Changers_in_the_Energy_System.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2017game, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Game Changers in the Energy System}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2017}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Game_Changers_in_the_Energy_System.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }