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Why energy nationalism is replacing climate ambition
This is among the findings in Siemens’ study of global executives exploring the state of the infrastructure transition across energy, industry and buildings.
National energy security has overtaken global climate cooperation as the primary driver of the energy transition, according to a report from Siemens.
The Siemens Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025 reveals senior leaders believe a resilient energy supply should be the top governmental priority among infrastructure transition goals – up from third place in 2023. Meanwhile, national energy independence and the proactive management of climate risks have seen the most significant growth in priority.
Energy as a geopolitical tool
The Siemens Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025 is a biennial study commissioned by Siemens, surveying 1,400 senior executives and government representatives in 19 countries across energy, buildings and industries. The 2025 edition is the second in the series and launches ahead of Cop30.
The report finds that rising global instability is intensifying market and supply chain volatility and to mitigate the use of energy as a geopolitical tool, governments are prioritising security, independence, and preparedness alongside climate mitigation.
“The infrastructure transition is entering a new phase whereby national goals of energy security are overtaking global collaboration on decarbonisation”
The findings highlight a shift: from a multilateral vision of clean energy to one increasingly centred on sovereign resilience and regional production. With mounting pressure on public and private energy systems amid overlapping climate, geopolitical, and market challenges, it finds that energy resilience is now seen as a critical enabler of the clean energy transition – not a trade-off against it.
“The infrastructure transition is entering a new phase whereby national goals of energy security are overtaking global collaboration on decarbonisation,” said Matthias Rebellius, managing board member of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure.
“As systems face mounting climate and energy disruptions, resilience is no longer optional – AI, technology, and digitalisation are now critical to this shift. They can empower organisations and governments to manage the complexities of renewable-based systems, ensure reliability, and accelerate the clean energy transition smarter and more sustainably.”
Key findings include:
From global transition to national resilience: over three in five (62 per cent) respondents believe future energy systems will rely more on local or regional production than global trade, with key enablers including renewable integration, storage readiness, and advanced grid systems. Already, over half say resilience (53 per cent) and energy independence (52 per cent) are reaching maturity or are advanced within their countries – signalling a shift in infrastructure priorities is already underway.
Confidence in climate targets is declining: with resilience and energy security now taking precedence, confidence in achieving global climate goals is starting to fall. More than half (57 per cent) of global executives expect increased investment in fossil fuels over the next two years, and just 37 per cent of businesses now believe they will meet their 2030 decarbonisation targets – down from 44 per cent in 2023.
A wake-up call before Cop30: with confidence in climate goals declining and 2026 strategies in development, the report highlights that failure to embed resilience into energy planning risks both economic and environmental fallout. At a time when governments are recalibrating net zero strategies alongside welfare and growth agendas, Siemens underscores that through grid investment and digital innovation, progress towards climate commitments as well as energy resilience can be accelerated
Artificial Intelligence will accelerate the transition: as national energy strategies evolve, digital technologies remain at the heart of the infrastructure transition. Digitalisation ranks as the second most important factor in accelerating the clean energy transition for industries – just behind expanding energy storage – with AI expected to have the greatest positive impact. Respondents believe that AI is helping to make critical infrastructure more resilient (66 per cent) and report that their organisations are using AI to help decarbonise their operations (59 per cent).
To find out more,go to: Siemens Infrastructure Transition Monitor 2025.
climate actionClimate change/ResilienceCOP30Energy & EnvironmentGovernance and Citizennet zeroPolicy MakingregulationRenewables
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