Diversity in energy: this isn’t a talent problem. It’s a human one.
The latest POWERful Women 2026 State of the Nation report should stop the energy sector in its tracks.
At a glance, things look broadly stable. Female representation on boards has edged up to 31%.
But look closer, and the picture is much more uncomfortable. View report here.
As the report itself puts it:
Beneath the headline is a story that should concern every leader in the Energy Sector.
This isn’t steady progress. It’s slippage.
More boards are removing women than adding them. The pipeline into senior roles is stalling. And while leadership numbers are improving, they’re not translating into consistent change at the top.
At a time when the sector is under pressure to deliver the energy transition, this should raise serious questions. This isn’t just a diversity issue. It’s a capability issue.
At the Women in New Energy conference in Aberdeen last week, Katharine Descamps from POWERful Women talked about the report, which I must admit I hadn’t heard of until now. It made me look for the report to understand it better.
We’re still solving the wrong problem
For too long, the conversation—particularly in new energy—has been framed like this:
We need more women in engineering and technical roles.
That matters. But it’s no longer the core issue.
The report shows that women are in the system—entering organisations, progressing into leadership, building careers. Yet they are not consistently being appointed, retained or advanced into the roles where decisions are made. This is why the narrative needs to shift. If we keep treating this as a technical pipeline problem, we will continue to invest in the wrong solutions.
This is a human systems failure
What the data actually reveals is something deeper:
Progress is being lost at moments of appointment and renewal
Leadership gains are not flowing through to boards
The middle pipeline—the future leadership pool—is stalling
These are not engineering challenges. They are human system challenges:
How decisions are made
Who is seen as “ready”
Whose potential is recognised—and whose isn’t
Who gets sponsorship, advocacy and opportunity
Or, put more simply:
This is not about whether the sector can find women.
It’s about whether it can enable them to succeed and stay.
Why this matters even more for new energy
There’s a broader misconception at play.
We often talk about the energy transition as a technology challenge.
It’s much more than that.
It’s about:
public trust
behaviour change
place-based decision-making
political and community alignment
complex stakeholder environments
These are human problems, not purely technical ones.
And yet, as the report makes clear:
“A diverse and inclusive energy sector is not a ‘nice to have.’ It is fundamental to the industry’s ability to deliver a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system.”
That line should reframe the entire conversation because it tells us that diversity is not an input to the transition. It is a condition of success.
Three things we need to act on now
If we accept that this is a human system challenge, then the priorities become much clearer.
1. Fix decision-making moments—not just pipelines
The biggest leakage is happening at the point where decisions get made.
Board appointments
Executive hiring
Promotion rounds
That’s where diversity progress is either realised—or quietly undone.
This means:
diverse shortlists must be non-negotiable
appointment decisions must be tracked and transparent
accountability must sit with CEOs and Chairs
Right now, progress is being lost in plain sight.
2. Treat middle management as critical infrastructure
The report highlights a looming risk: middle management has stalled at 34%. This is where future leaders are shaped—and where organisational culture actually lives. If this layer doesn’t move, nothing above it will sustain.
We need to treat it like infrastructure:
invest in it
measure it
actively manage progression through it
Without that, the system simply reproduces itself.
3. Redefine leadership for a human transition
If the energy transition is ultimately about people, then leadership needs to evolve accordingly.
That means valuing:
collaboration and influence
stakeholder navigation
inclusion and empathy
communication and trust-building
Alongside traditional technical expertise, because diversity isn’t just about fairness.
It’s about building leadership teams that are fit for purpose in a more complex, human-centred system.
So what needs to change at a policy level?
If there’s one intervention that would materially accelerate progress, it’s this:
Mandate transparency and accountability on gender progression—not just representation
Right now, most reporting focuses on headline numbers—board composition, senior leadership percentages.
As this report shows, the real issue sits beneath that:
who gets promoted
who exits
who is appointed to critical roles
Policy should require large energy companies to publish:
promotion rates by gender
attrition rates by gender and level
shortlisting and appointment data for senior roles
Not as a voluntary exercise—but as a standard reporting requirement, much like financial or emissions data.
Why does this matter? Because:
what gets measured gets managed
what gets published gets prioritised
and what leaders are held accountable for actually changes
It would shift the conversation from:
“Are we broadly diverse?”
To:
“Are our systems producing equitable outcomes?” And that is exactly where the problem—and the solution—sits.
This is a moment to act
As I illuded to in my last blog from the conference, sadly, the conversations are not progressing into action and impact. The report calls this a wake-up moment—and it’s right.
This year is different… the sector is no longer making progress.
There are four years to hit 2030 targets. At the current pace, that won’t happen.
The actions are clear on how we can still meet this:
fix how decisions are made
strengthen the pipeline where it’s weakest
and make diversity a core performance issue
Ultimately, this isn’t about optics or targets. It’s about whether the energy sector can build the kind of leadership it actually needs to deliver one of the most complex transformations in its history.
That’s not a technical challenge. It’s a human one.