Energy Transition Index 2026
Despite record global energy investment reaching $3.3 trillion, energy transition progress is fragmenting as geopolitical tensions, infrastructure bottlenecks and rising energy demand expose vulnerabilities in the global transition.
Written by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture, the Energy Transition Index 2026 tracks energy transition progress across 120 countries, measuring both how energy systems perform today and whether the conditions for future progress are in place – with weakening policy certainty and financing conditions emerging as the sharpest constraints on momentum.
Case studies from several countries demonstrate how targeted investment, grid modernization and clean-energy policy can strengthen resilience and accelerate delivery. The report argues that deployment alone is no longer sufficient – the policy, financial and infrastructure conditions that sustain it are weakening, and closing that gap is the defining challenge of the next phase of the transition.
Key findings
The latest edition of the World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index (ETI) report shows that progress in the energy transition has stalled. The ETI, which benchmarks 120 countries on their energy system performance and the readiness of their enabling environment, finds that gains in equity and sustainability were offset by a decline in energy security and, for the first time in over a decade, a fall in transition readiness. Disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz in 2026 have intensified existing vulnerabilities, while geopolitical fragmentation, rising demand and concentrated investment flows are widening the gap between leading and lagging economies.
Key findings
- Overall ETI scores in 2026 were broadly flat (+0.03%), with gains in system performance offset by the first decline in transition readiness in over a decade, signalling that the foundations needed for future progress are weakening.
- Advanced economies continued to lead the rankings, accounting for 14 of the top 20 performers. Sub-Saharan Africa made the most regional progress year-on-year, while emerging Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and MENA and Pakistan, all saw declines.
- Despite a record total of global energy investment of $3.3 trillion – including $2.3 trillion in clean energy – energy security deteriorated and transition readiness weakened, exposing a growing gap between capital deployment and the conditions needed to sustain it.
Overall results
Overall, 56% of countries improved their ETI scores in 2026. System performance scores increased on average (+0.43%), driven by equity and sustainability gains. However, only 24% of countries made simultaneous progress across all three system performance dimensions, down from 28% in 2025, underscoring the increasing difficulty of balancing competing priorities.
System performance improved overall, but with diverging trends across dimensions. Equity continued to improve (+1.6%), supported by easing affordability pressures, though recent price shocks put these gains at risk. Sustainability also advanced (+0.6%), with steady progress in clean energy share. Energy security was the only dimension to deteriorate (-0.9%), with particular weakness in import diversification and grid reliability.
Transition readiness declined for the first time in over a decade (-0.76%), signalling an erosion of the enabling conditions needed to sustain long-term progress. Four of five readiness dimensions weakened. Finance and investment recorded the sharpest fall ( -1.8 %): 75% of clean energy investment flows to a handful of markets, while countries expected to drive 80% of future demand growth face financing costs two to three times higher than advanced economies. Innovation also declined (-1.1%), with the diffusion of environment-related technologies falling for a tenth consecutive year. Regulation and political commitment weakened (-1.2%), driven by rising policy instability in advanced economies. Education and human capital (+2.0%) was the only readiness dimension to improve, but this was insufficient to offset declines across finance and investment, regulation and political commitment, innovation and infrastructure.
Regional dynamics and the multi-speed transition
Advanced economies continued to lead the rankings, accounting for 14 of the top 20 performers. The Nordics – Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway – retained the top positions, reflecting consistently strong performance across energy diversification, clean energy adoption, policy frameworks and infrastructure.
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the strongest regional gains in 2026, driven by improvements in education, human capital and financial flows. Emerging Europe also improved, while emerging Asia was the only region to decline on average.
Among major economies, China ranked 14th, continuing to scale clean energy investment at record levels. The United States ranked 19th, with policy uncertainty weighing on readiness. India ranked 70th, posting one of the stronger readiness gains among major economies, driven by investment in energy security and affordability.
Among the most improved performers year-on-year, Kazakhstan recorded the largest overall gain (+3.2), driven by a sharp improvement in finance and investment conditions and stronger energy security performance. Tanzania and Zimbabwe showed strong momentum in Sub-Saharan Africa. Qatar was the strongest performer in MENA (+2.6), driven by diversification and readiness gains.
Three priorities for the next phase
The 2026 ETI identifies three priorities for sustaining and accelerating the transition:
1. Embed security, affordability and resilience as design principles – not as responses to crisis, but as foundations of system architecture, extending across fuels, grids, supply chains and critical minerals.
2. Unblock delivery by accelerating grid expansion and system integration – streamlining permitting, closing the gap between renewable deployment and grid capacity, and addressing the more than 2,500 gigawatts (GW) of projects stalled in connection queues worldwide.
3. Restore investability through stable policy and targeted capital flows – rebuilding policy credibility, reducing cost-of-capital divergence and directing finance towards the emerging economies that will drive the majority of future demand growth.