A third of global energy companies will shed jobs due to Covid-19, warns World Energy Council

The coronavirus crisis will become a “stress test for the global energy system,” resulting in major changes for the energy industry, said Secretary General of the World Energy Council Angela Wilkinson.

As part of the Covid-19: Accelerating a Better Energy Future for All online-conference session on Wednesday, she presented the council’s study of the impact of the pandemic on the global energy sector. Its research encompassed more than 100 countries, and found that four out of five companies surveyed intend to drastically reduce their costs, including their investment and operating expenses.

About 40 percent of energy firms have already slashed their operating costs by at least 10 percent. “The wellbeing of employees remains a clear priority for most companies in the energy sector... At the same time, one third of the companies participating in the survey told us that they will have to cut staff,” Wilkinson said. Efforts will be made to keep job losses to a minimum, however.

The crisis is already having a significant impact on the energy sector, Wilkinson discovered, with 80 companies having majorly shifted their investments towards digitalization. They also “intend to pay more attention to protecting the environment and to social responsibility, and to improving corporate governance,” the secretary general said.

It’s important to understand that the world has not yet felt the worst consequences of the crisis, Wilkinson stressed. “We’ll see the greatest financial capital allocation in history, the restructuring of the energy sector, new ways of working, and transformational change. We’re in the midst of a deeply human crisis and are starting to face up to the new realities.”

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