Energy Impact Report - Electricity Edition

In our latest quarterly review of corporate sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities, we find that electricity companies are significantly increasing investments in modernizing power grids, with Enel announcing plans to spend €18.6 billion on improving grid quality, resilience and digitisation by end-2026. The report highlights that annual investment in grids must rise from USD 300 billion in 2023 to over USD 600 billion by 2030 according to the IEA, focusing on digitising and modernising distribution networks to better integrate variable distributed energy resources (DERs) and address both financial materiality and double materiality considerations across the electricity value chain.

This report analyses thousands of sustainability disclosures from 20 leading entities in the industry, including NextEra Energy, Duke Energy and Iberdrola SA. Published in Q225 as part of a quarterly series, it also includes disclosures from Global South entities like NTPC Limited, Tenaga Nasional and Equatorial Energia. The global nature of this analysis makes it an ideal source of external evidence for sustainability accounting and disclosure, particularly for organisations implementing smart grid technologies and conducting thorough materiality assessment processes to align with SDGs for clean energy while enhancing grid resilience against climate-related physical risks.