A Business and Regulatory Navigator to Accelerate Electrification

Demand for electrification is moving faster than the system it connects to. Electric vehicles, heat pumps and electrified industrial processes are scaling ¹, and the the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) Presidency has set a global target of 35% of final energy demand met by electricity by 2035, up from around 21% today.² What now sets the pace is the readiness of the power system, which means how fast projects connect, whether prices reward flexibility, and whether equipment and markets work together.

For businesses, electrification is increasingly a decision about competitiveness, resilience and long-term value creation. The companies and markets that can electrify faster are often better positioned to manage energy costs, access new revenue streams, strengthen operational resilience and attract investment. Businesses across every sector describe the same set of barriers: connection queues running for years, tariffs that do not support the business case and hold flat while system costs move hour by hour, fragmented market structures with missing aggregation rules and interoperability standards, and flexible capacity waiting for a market to sell into.

This Navigator looks at five action areas to help businesses access the system faster, value their energy use more efficiently and scale electrified solutions. These are:

• Grid access and capacity
• Permitting and delivery
• Price signals and market access
• Products, revenue and business models
• Standards, data and interoperability.

From supply to demand, companies can embed these actions in their decision-making processes to overcome the barriers they face and chart the path through it. Every action area described in the Navigator carries four elements: the action a business should take, the regulatory reform that makes that action possible at scale, the indicator that measures progress and impact, and the timeframe in which the change can land.

The Navigator then reapplies the same five action areas across four demand sectors – transport and mobility, data centers, the built environment, and industry – and helps identify which actions are best suited for each sector.

Unlocking the business value of electrification requires stakeholders across the value chain to act in tandem. That’s why this resource is designed for businesses electrifying their operations and supply chains, as well as the regulators who shape their operating conditions. The Navigator offers each of these actors a checklist of actions to assess priorities and build roadmaps suited to their own challenges and transformation maturity.

<sup>1. International Energy Agency (IEA) (2026). Electricity 2026 – Grids ↩

2. United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) Presidency (2026). COP31 Presidency announces “35% by 2035” electrification target as part of Action Agenda launch ↩</sup>