Piscataway, N.J., July 17, 2025 — IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES), the leading provider of scientific and engineering information on electric power & energy, today released the results of its 2025 global member survey, offering insights into how power and electrical engineers worldwide view the evolving energy landscape and their role in addressing climate change.

Notable key findings include:

• Energy reliability and meeting growing demand are engineers’ greatest environmental and energy-related concerns, followed by aging infrastructure and climate change.
• Engineers believe they must focus most on modernizing the grid (63%), advancing renewable energy, storage systems and clean technologies (53%), and improving load efficiency (51%) to reduce overall demand.
• Two in three engineers believe technology will be key to solving the climate crisis.

“Power and energy professionals are facing mounting challenges while adapting to a rapidly changing climate. What stands out in our 2025 global survey is the clear consensus that engineers must have a seat at the table to help the global community prioritize the modernization, technological advancements and load growth our electric grids need to achieve lasting climate resiliency,” said Dr. Shay Bahramirad, IEEE PES President.

The Challenges to Net Zero 2050
While nations around the world have set ambitious net-zero emissions targets for 2050, power and electrical engineers revealed what they view as the greatest barriers to achieving those goals. The most significant challenges their respective countries face in reaching their goals were:

1. High cost of transitioning to clean energy (52%)
2. Limited energy storage capacity for renewable generation (49%)
3. Resistance to renewable energy transition (44%)

Implementing Next-Gen Energy Sources
Looking ahead, engineers see solar energy, hydropower, and nuclear energy as the most important sources in the future energy mix. Yet despite broad support for renewable energy, the survey revealed a critical gap: while a majority believe it’s important for their countries to lower carbon emissions and expand renewable energy generation, less than one-third of engineers believe their national infrastructure can support the increased integration of renewables over the next decade.

Additional Insights: 

• 88% of engineers believe they play an important role in addressing climate change.
• Over half say reducing the environmental impacts of climate change is the most significant driver of the clean energy transition in their region.
• 82% believe that countries with more developed economies and energy grids should play a role in supporting nations with fewer resources and less modernization.
• Almost half do not believe there are enough funding opportunities for engineers working to address climate change.

Explore the full findings from the 2025 global survey here.

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The survey was disseminated online to an international sample of IEEE PES members, with 933 completing the survey between February 6-28, 2025. The margin of error was +/-3% at a 95% confidence level.

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ABOUT IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES)
The IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) is the leading provider of scientific and engineering information on electric power & energy for the betterment of society and a trusted resource dedicated to the technical, informational, networking, and professional development needs of its members. With over 42,000 members around the globe representing every facet of the electric power and energy industry, PES is at the forefront of the rapidly changing technological advancements that impact everyone’s future. Additional information on IEEE PES can be found on our website.