New World Order: The Battle for Energy

On May 19, the EDHEC Business School Chair in Geopolitics and Corporate Strategy hosted the conference « New World Order: Businesses in the Battle for Energy », in partnership with the EDHEC Climate Institute and the Institut Français de Géopolitique / CASSINI.

Alongside General Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the French Air and Space Force, researchers, executives, and experts discussed a question that has become central: how can businesses ensure resilience in a context marked by geopolitical fragmentation, energy tensions, and accelerating climate risks?

Here are three key takeaways from the conference:

1. Markets set prices, but they don't guarantee deliveries.

Recent crises have exposed the limits of a purely market-based view of energy. For decades, the integration of European gas and electricity markets fostered the idea that price was the primary risk. The war in Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East point to a more fundamental reality: physical access to resources remains a strategic issue. For businesses, this shift means looking beyond markets and re-examining the fundamentals: origin of supply, strength of counterparties, storage capacity, and diversification of sources. In an environment shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, resilience depends less on forecasting prices than on securing volumes.

2. The energy transition shifts dependencies rather than eliminating them.

The energy transition is often presented as a gradual exit from the vulnerabilities inherited from the fossil fuel economy. Speakers pointed out that it actually creates new forms of dependency. In the past, energy balances revolved around oil and gas. Today, they are shifting toward critical metals, batteries, semiconductors, power grids, and the digital infrastructure that makes the transition possible. The question, then, is not only about producing cleaner energy, but about durably securing the resources and value chains that make it possible.

3. Businesses are geopolitical actors in their own right.

Businesses find themselves directly exposed to power rivalries. They must navigate sanctions, trade restrictions, industrial policies, cyber risks, and tensions over critical infrastructure. Supply chains are no longer just tools of economic efficiency; they are becoming arenas of strategic competition. In this context, resilience is no longer an added cost — it becomes a factor of competitiveness. As our speakers emphasized, accelerating the energy transition also means strengthening the resilience of our economies. Competitiveness, sovereignty, and stability are not at odds: they go hand in hand.