Covid-19 global survey results, 3. Round, March 2021. Covid implications and outlook: recovery with diversity and resilience

The Covid crisis continues to have significant and uneven impacts across societies, economies and businesses. The World Energy Council Covid survey shows that regions and energy companies are adopting diverse approaches to recovery which reflect different starting points, circumstances and ambitions. While views on a post-pandemic world are still unclear, there are more signals of certainty about uncertainty. The other key insights include: 1. No return to a pre-pandemic normal. Almost half of our global energy community (48%) - three times more than in April 2020 - now expect a new normal. As lockdowns begin to lift across the world, 65% of respondents anticipate a shift or growth in energy demand. This outlook raises questions about producing more energy to meet increasing demand while achieving climate neutrality. 2. Increasing resilience of energy companies. While some energy companies (28%) are still experiencing significant disruption from Covid on their businesses, it is down from 50% indicated in April 2020. Energy companies are increasing their resilience and learning to navigate through the uncertainty. They are moving beyond business-as-usual action and reallocating investments, especially in digitisation (56%) and R and D (40%). 3. Multiple recovery pathways. The crisis has emphasised that there is no 'one size fits all' solution. Regions are taking diverse approaches to recovery which reflect geographical diversity, different staring points and ambitions. Many countries are turning this crisis into opportunity for transformation. While regional views vary, half (51%) of our global community indicate that Covid recovery actions contribute to accelerating energy transition. 4. Human-centered energy transition. There is a greater recognition of the role of people and consumers in energy transition. The gap between their current role and what is needed to successfully recover from the crisis, and drive energy transition, is significant (the average score of current role versus desired role in a scale from 1-min to 5-max is 2.5/5 vs 4/5). Information, education, and citizen engagement are mentioned as the most important approaches to enabling a greater role of consumers. Turning challenges into opportunities. Insufficient behavioural changes are mentioned as the biggest barrier to meeting the Paris Agreement (48% of respondents). This shows that the pace of transition is not determined by the accelerated rate of technological innovation but by the ability of people to make choices. Nearly half (49%) of respondents believe shifting energy demand and a third (31%) believe the energy-digital nexus are important emerging solution spaces to tap into. Co-shaping a new energy future. While governments are playing a leading role (indicated by 49% of respondents) in recovering from crisis and progressing successful energy transition, there is a recognition that responsibilities are distributed across business, civil society, investors, etc. (30% of respondents). There is also a growing need to engage across energy sector boundaries and work with new energy players, e.g. digital giants, demand aggregators and entrepreneurs