AI, climate change and geopolitical shifts are reconfiguring the global economy. We’ve mapped where value is moving over the next decade, so you can build a future-ready business to capture it.
Creating new customer needs and preferences. Forging new markets. Enabling new business models. Attracting new competitors. And blurring the boundaries of sectors and industries.
It’s time to look for growth in new places.
It’s time to explore new domains of growth—markets where companies work across sector boundaries to meet fundamental human needs. Like how we feed and care for ourselves, move, make and build things, and how we fuel and power it all.
Scroll on to understand how these domains will form and grow. And discover how to seize your share of the value in motion.
To see which domains hold opportunity for you, select your industry/sector and region, or click on the graphic below.
Tap an industry and swipe left on the chart below to see how it will transform into a domain.
Source: PwC research and analysis
Select from the nine domains below to learn how they are forming, the size of the opportunity and how to seize the value in motion.
To ensure clean and reliable access for a rising population and enable industries to meet demand, the energy sector must embrace new ways of operating.
The long-established value chains that transform fossil fuels into electrons and molecules that fuel our world still define the global energy industry. But the system is rapidly evolving, as climate change forces a fundamental rethink—and technological innovations create new opportunities.
As it shifts to incorporate more zero-carbon electricity and new low- and no-carbon fuels, the energy system must ensure reliable access to energy for a growing global population, and low-cost power sources to enable industries to meet rising living standards.
Critical sectors such as steel, chemicals, fertiliser and plastics drive demand for fossil fuels. Investment is climbing in companies working on alternative fuels; power storage; transmission infrastructure; and new technology, such as AI and analytics, that can identify and drive efficiency.
A rich blend of established players and new entrants will collaborate and compete to solve the challenge of decarbonising at scale, by developing offerings designed to meet an increasingly wide, complex set of customer needs.
Transport and homes will increasingly be powered by electricity, providing a boost to energy storage and low-carbon generation. Electrons, some stored in the shape of molecules like hydrogen, will also play an important role in industry—displacing traditional molecules.
While fossil fuels, which currently provide 80% of global primary energy demand, continue to play a vital role, working on lower-carbon solutions like energy efficiency, carbon capture and the application of AI to emissions reductions efforts will offer opportunities for value creation.
As supply and demand for vital resources grow, value will be created in fundamentally different ways. AI, which will increase electricity demand, can be deployed to help manage grids, drive efficiency and lower costs simultaneously. Other modes of value creation that are nascent today, such as sustainable fuels and green hydrogen, will need to scale dramatically.
To paint a quantitative picture of the future, we modelled the Fuel and Power domain’s growth under three divergent scenarios, focusing in particular on the impact of technological disruption, specifically from AI, and climate change. Depending on the assumptions, the size of the domain in 2035 could range from a low of $6.03 trillion to a high of $6.46 trillion.
The long-established value chains that transform fossil fuels into electrons and molecules that fuel our world still define the global energy industry. But the system is rapidly evolving, as climate change forces a fundamental rethink—and technological innovations create new opportunities.
As it shifts to incorporate more zero-carbon electricity and new low- and no-carbon fuels, the energy system must ensure reliable access to energy for a growing global population, and low-cost power sources to enable industries to meet rising living standards.
Critical sectors such as steel, chemicals, fertiliser and plastics drive demand for fossil fuels. Investment is climbing in companies working on alternative fuels; power storage; transmission infrastructure; and new technology, such as AI and analytics, that can identify and drive efficiency.
A rich blend of established players and new entrants will collaborate and compete to solve the challenge of decarbonising at scale, by developing offerings designed to meet an increasingly wide, complex set of customer needs.
Transport and homes will increasingly be powered by electricity, providing a boost to energy storage and low-carbon generation. Electrons, some stored in the shape of molecules like hydrogen, will also play an important role in industry—displacing traditional molecules.
While fossil fuels, which currently provide 80% of global primary energy demand, continue to play a vital role, working on lower-carbon solutions like energy efficiency, carbon capture and the application of AI to emissions reductions efforts will offer opportunities for value creation.
As supply and demand for vital resources grow, value will be created in fundamentally different ways. AI, which will increase electricity demand, can be deployed to help manage grids, drive efficiency and lower costs simultaneously. Other modes of value creation that are nascent today, such as sustainable fuels and green hydrogen, will need to scale dramatically.
To paint a quantitative picture of the future, we modelled the Fuel and Power domain’s growth under three divergent scenarios, focusing in particular on the impact of technological disruption, specifically from AI, and climate change. Depending on the assumptions, the size of the domain in 2035 could range from a low of $6.03 trillion to a high of $6.46 trillion.
Businesses that grasp the full potential of the Fuel and Power domain will have the edge in 2035.
The nature and scale of the new business opportunities that emerge in the Fuel and Power domain will depend on how AI adoption and climate action progress. Your strategy should account for a range of possible outcomes.
Three scenarios can help leaders in the Fuel and Power domain consider what the future might bring.
In Trust-Based Transformation, a coordinated, conscientious approach to tech deployment and climate response fosters productivity growth, job creation and environmental health.
In Tense Transition, regionalisation and nationalism give rise to technology systems and sustainability efforts that deliver benefits without the economies of global scale.
In Turbulent Times, atomised interests, divisive uses of technology, and suspended sustainability initiatives hamper economic growth.
Learn more about the three divergent tomorrows.
Global baseline 2035
Source: PwC research and analysis
Select a bar below to see projected values and how each scenario might influence the Fuel and Power domain.
Source: PwC research and analysis
A global coalition of leading nations collaborates to make progress on sustainability goals. AI deployment delivers effective energy-efficiency measures to the point where its rising energy use effectively pays for itself and compensates for the increased demand that these technologies require. Global mechanisms are put in place to fund emissions reductions efforts for industries and countries that may lack the resources.
Select a bar below to see projected values and how each scenario might influence the Fuel and Power domain.
The projected growth of the Fuel and Power domain varies greatly, not just across future scenarios but among regions and territories, too. Knowing where opportunities are likely to emerge—and where they might be overlooked—can help companies target geographies, design offerings and retool their business models.
Global value
Source: PwC research and analysis
Regional clusters depicted above are based on IIASA research data and ISO mapping and do not represent the structure of the PwC network or where PwC member firms are incorporated and operate.
In a future of divergent possibilities, imagining new ways to create value can help reframe how we think about viable business models, products and services.
Regardless of the scenario, leaders can act now to ensure they succeed in the decade ahead.
Fast-forward a decade. What sorts of innovative offerings might generate outsize value for companies in the Fuel and Power domain? To help leaders expand their thinking, we’ve imagined hypothetical businesses in the context of the three scenarios.
Countries cooperate to make progress on decarbonising energy supplies, increasing energy efficiency and bolstering international energy security. A firm offers scaled-up, cross-border smart grid systems that facilitate energy sharing and trading at the regional level—and serve as a platform for other businesses. By seamlessly integrating solar, wind and other renewables into existing grid infrastructure, such systems also promote decarbonisation. AI models allow for cross-border load optimisation, predictive maintenance and energy trading. Beyond management services, the firm provides advanced storage solutions that balance supply and demand as renewable generation fluctuates.
Who’s got the edge?
Future growth area
Installing IOT sensors and data networks to gather real-time data on renewable energy, power demand, weather conditions and other key variables
These quick-hit concepts—some of them suited for just one future scenario, others for more—offer additional inspiration for business model innovation.
100% renewable energy systems
Off-grid hybrid energy systems
Vehicle-to-grid provider networks
Sustainable aviation fuels
Energy consumption and management software
Smart-grid solutions provider
The process of reinvention needs to start now, with a focus on priorities that respond to the reconfiguration that’s already underway. This means driving hard towards a set of innovation imperatives, securing competitive advantages in areas such as technology and trust, and turning obstacles such as climate threats into enablers of growth.
How to win in the Fuel and Power domain
Embrace the energy trade
The electron is poised to transform from a locally consumed resource into a regionally traded commodity with significant economic and geopolitical implications. Regions with abundant resources, land and capital, like the Middle East, Australia and North Africa, will emerge as power exporters. Energy-importing regions must strategically invest in diverse partnerships and trade routes to secure a stable, sustainable supply while mitigating geopolitical risks.
Cross-border trade
Energy companies must develop capabilities in cross-border trade and the essential enabling capabilities, including multinational contracting, currency optimisation, global operations and supply chain management, and local market entrenchment. Companies could be asked to manage foreign investment and development to back renewable investments in new regions.
Cross-industry collaboration
Traditional oil majors and utility companies will cooperate to develop agile and adaptive energy organisations, capable of learning from one another how to work effectively across borders as they enable the energy transition.
Identify high-growth areas
Merchant players can leverage their superior financial performance by investing strategically and developing partnerships in regions with high power growth. This approach will allow them to benefit from the first-mover advantage, securing a foothold in burgeoning markets and establishing a strong presence in the international power trade.
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