Signals of Change – June 2026
We Mean Business Coalition
Ahead of London Climate Week the Coalition worked with partners on new polling that shows overwhelming business support for clean electrification and with companies on stories spotlighting how they are electrifying their operations and value chains.
Read on for more signals of change toward…
AN ACCELERATED TRANSITION FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO CLEAN, ELECTRIFIED SOLUTIONS
Energy
BloombergNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2026 confirms that recent energy shocks are accelerating the energy transition, as countries look to reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels. It predicts that solar will become the world’s largest source of electricity by 2032.
Meanwhile, the COP31 presidency has unveiled a new “35 by 35” target at the Bonn climate talks, calling for the share of final energy consumption met by electricity to rise to 35 per cent by 2035, up from around 20 per cent today.
The rapid expansion of the energy storage market continues. General Motors is moving into grid-scale energy storage as it seeks to capitalize on surging demand. The company expects 130,000 General Motors EVs to feed power back to the grid by 2030.
And Swiss developer FlexBase is partnering with battery maker Invinity Energy Systems to supply non-lithium batteries for a giant underground storage system beneath a new AI data center complex. The battery system aims to manage electricity demand and stabilize the grid.
Buildings
The U.K. government’s £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme are starting to yield, as heat pump sales grew by 27 per cent last year to 125,000 units. as heat pump sales grew by 27 per cent last year to 125,000 units.
Elsewhere, heat pumps have outsold gas boilers in Germany, with sales rising 22 per cent over the last year – accounting for almost half of all heating systems sold.
RPE IN THE EU: AMPLIFYING GENUINE BUSINESS VOICES IN EUROPE
Companies investing in Europe’s clean transition are being drowned out by those most invested in the status quo. New guidance from We Mean Business Coalition and CLG Europe makes the case for changing that by offering a practical blueprint for how to do so.
Read our new blog from our Managing Director of Policy, Andrew Prag, and Ursula Woodburn, Director at CLG Europe.
Transport
Demand for EVs has risen for a third straight month globally, up 3 per cent from May last year. BloombergNEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook expects over a quarter of cars sold globally in 2026 to be electric, an 11% jump from 2025.
In the UK, sales of used electric vehicles have surged 32 per cent year-on-year, reaching record levels, even as the broader used car market remains flat – signaling that EVs are capturing a growing share of the market.
Electric vehicle adoption is surging in Africa, led by Ethiopia which banned imports of gas and diesel-powered vehicles in 2024 and has redoubled its campaign to speed up EV adoption in response to recent fossil fuel price shocks.
Policy and Incentives
Canada has launched a new $1 trillion National Electricity Strategy, aiming to double the country’s grid capacity, connect provincial grid systems and expand major high-voltage cross-country transmission projects.
South Korea is aiming to cut its reliance on fossil fuels with a supplementary budget allocating 540 billion won ($365 million USD) to solar and wind projects, energy storage systems, and grid expansion.
Meanwhile South Korea has committed to expanding its renewable capacity to 100 GW by 2030, nearly tripling its current capacity of 37 GW and halving the country’s annual fossil fuel power bill. The government is also pushing to replace gas-based heating with electric heat pumps and renewable heating networks.
The European Commission has awarded €400 million to 65 projects to decarbonize heat production across Europe. The projects use technologies from heat pumps to dielectric heating and will replace fossil gas-fueled heat production systems.
The Commission has also established a new €1.5 billion Battery Booster Facility.By mobilizing the EU Emissions Trading System, the fund will help battery cell manufacturers ramp up production in Europe – strengthening Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
In the UK, energy secretary Ed Miliband has outlined plans for the country’s seventh carbon budget, setting out plans for a legally binding target to cut the UK’s emissions by 87 per cent by 2040 and arguing that the move to a greener economy was boosting business investment and growth.
Regulation and reporting
At the global level, ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) published the first global standard for net‑zero transition planning by financial institutions. The standard aims to guide financial institutions in implementing robust transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Denmark’s Financial Supervisory Authority has called on banks to improve their ESG credit risk reporting through stronger governance, enhanced risk assessments, and improved internal controls.
Latest from the Coalition
New company stories created through the Electric Advantage program spotlight how companies electrifying their operations and value chains – and capitalizing on the tangible, wide-ranging benefits that come with electrification.
Powering Up: Business perspectives on electrification across 18 countries, polling commissioned by the Coalition, GRA and E3G, reveals that 90 per cent of businesses expect their operations to be electrified by 2035. It was covered by Reuters and the Financial Times.
Writing in FT Sustainable Views, our CEO Maria Mendiluce discusses the need for stability amid the upcoming review of the EU Emissions Trading System.
With SME Climate Hub and Grant Thornton Bharat, the Coalition has launched the Energy Transition Business Action Checklists to help India’s mid-sized and large companies decarbonize operations and procure renewable electricity.
In a letter coordinated with CLG Europe and leading businesses, the Coalition expressed our strong support for the European Commission’s work on electrification and provided recommendations for the upcoming Electrification Action Plan.
Companies taking action
Meanwhile 23,704 companies of all sizes continue to take credible and ambitious climate action through Coalition and partner initiatives. See a snapshot of this action below.
See all companies who have committed in the past month on the We Mean Business Coalition website.
Companies setting their ambition for net zero include:
- 13,574 companies working to cut their emissions in line with science through SBTi
- 10,361 small and medium-sized enterprises working to cut emissions with the SME Climate Hub
- 677 companies who have now signed the Climate Pledge, to reach net zero by 2040
Companies are also driving down emissions through the following demand-side initiatives:
- 128 companies are accelerating the transition to electric vehicles through EV100
- 107 companies are committed to improving their energy efficiency through the Smart Energy Coalition
- 445 companies have committed to 100% renewable energy with RE100
- 38 companies have joined ConcreteZero to create a market for net zero concrete
- 43 companies have committed to SteelZero to create a market for net zero steel