Schneider and Bloomberg: Leading a New Energy Dialogue

Global leaders are confronting a fundamental question about energy infrastructure: how to bridge the gap between technological advancement and grid capacity.

The Energy Technology Coalition represents an executive response to this challenge, uniting decision makers from Schneider Electric and Bloomberg New Economy to address energy efficiency, resilience and responsiveness.

The coalition's formation reflects a strategic shift in how industry leaders approach energy transition. Rather than focusing solely on supply expansion, executives are directing attention toward demand-side technologies that have yet to achieve widespread deployment.

Leadership driving technology adoption

The Energy Technology Coalition convenes leaders from energy, technology and infrastructure sectors to examine obstacles preventing the rollout of AI-enabled grid management, digital twins and industrial automation systems.

The group's work centres on understanding deployment barriers and identifying how emerging technologies can optimise energy consumption and grid responsiveness.

This operational framework could enable the integration of additional energy sources, including clean power options.

The coalition's focus on demand-side technologies represents a pragmatic approach to infrastructure constraints. By prioritising solutions that optimise existing grid capacity, executives aim to create immediate operational improvements whilst longer-term supply infrastructure develops.

Frédéric Godemel, Executive Vice President, Energy Management at Schneider Electric, says: "Building a resilient and affordable energy future requires strong collaboration across the technology and energy sectors.

"By working together and leveraging innovations like AI and digital twins, we can strengthen the grid, improve reliability and make energy more accessible and cost-effective for everyone.

"Schneider Electric is committed to partnering with industry leaders to deliver solutions that support economic growth and ensure our energy infrastructure can meet the demands of tomorrow, which is why we're excited to play a part in this new coalition."

Navigating the energy landscape

The invitation-only working group addresses what executives view as both a challenge and an economic opportunity. Coalition members are tasked with evaluating technology deployment strategies, assessing what approaches are delivering results in the energy transition and identifying overlooked factors in the current landscape.

This executive-level coordination aims to provide companies, cities and countries with guidance on navigating energy infrastructure decisions.

The coalition's structure enables knowledge sharing across sectors that have traditionally operated independently. This cross-industry dialogue is designed to accelerate decision-making processes and reduce deployment timelines for proven technologies.

Karen Saltser, CEO of Bloomberg Media, says: "We are witnessing a critical moment where digital infrastructure and energy systems are converging at an accelerating pace.

"It's clear the world would benefit from coordinated action to ensure that surging AI and compute demands are met with clean, resilient and efficient energy for generations to come.

"By bringing together the best minds in this industry, the Energy Technology Coalition will help catalyse new innovations, partnerships and policies needed to power the future responsibly."

Strategic response to demand growth

According to Bloomberg New Economy's New Energy Outlook 2025, electricity demand is forecast to grow 34% in the next 10 years and 75% by 2050. The projection indicates that global electricity demand is entering a period of sustained, structural growth, requiring infrastructure evolution.

Executives are grappling with multiple demand drivers: EVs, industrial electrification, digitalisation and AI expansion. In emerging markets, leaders face the dual challenge of expanding access while managing new demand in regions where more than one billion people still lack reliable access to power.

Bloomberg New Economy identifies meeting energy demand with clean supply as a considerable challenge. The organisation's proposed approach involves making demand "smarter" through a combination of efficiency and flexibility, encouraging clean energy technology adoption and expanding grid infrastructure.

Olivier Blum, CEO of Schneider Electric, says on LinkedIn: "Every conversation about AI eventually leads back to energy, not how much we need, but how wisely we use it.

"The more energy is demanded from our grid, the more important energy technology becomes.

"When energy is made to be more intelligent, we can make practical improvements in how it is managed. Buildings consume less electricity, microgrids create more resilience, digital twins visualise richer data for superior pre-construction planning."

The coalition's formation reflects an executive recognition that infrastructure decisions made today will determine whether organisations can meet tomorrow's energy requirements while maintaining operational efficiency and cost effectiveness.