The World Economic Forum and Frontiers today co-published the Top 10 Emerging Technologies for Planetary Health: Energy Edition report. Building on last year's inaugural report, the energy edition spotlights ten technologies with the greatest potential to reduce pressure on the planet and make power supply more reliable. Each technology has a credible path to real-world use by 2030. The report gives policymakers and business leaders an early view of how energy systems are likely to transform.
Global electricity demand is forecast to increase by almost a fifth between 2025 and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's Electricity 2026 report. At the same time, fuel prices are volatile, and key minerals are concentrated in a few countries, making energy security a question of who controls the supply chain. Several technologies in the report use materials that can be sourced in many countries. Heat batteries store energy in sand and brick. Iron-air batteries release electricity as iron rusts and store it by reversing the reaction.
The ten technologies shaping the future of energy are:
Calcined-clay limestone cement (LC3) – replacing nearly half the clinker in cement with calcined clay and limestone. This less energy-intensive process cuts emissions by up to 40%
Virtual power plants and grids – software coordinates home batteries, electric vehicle chargers, and smart thermostats to supply power or ease demand, while digital twins, live virtual copies of the grid, predict its next move
Abundant materials batteries – sodium, zinc, and iron batteries trade the light weight of lithium for cold tolerance, fire safety, and multi-day storage
Thermal energy storage (heat batteries) – storing renewable power as heat in brick, sand, or molten salt to run industrial furnaces, which use about a fifth of the world's energy
Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells – a perovskite layer stacked on a silicon cell generates up to 20% more energy from the same site
Advanced subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnectors – connecting national grids to move surplus clean power to where it is needed
Modular nuclear reactors – factory-built, small, and transportable reactors aim to deliver cleaner power at a competitive cost
Building-integrated photovoltaics – turning roofs, facades, and windows made of silicon-laminated materials into solar generators without new land
Floating offshore wind – turbines moored in water deeper than 300 meters unlock wind power from some of the world's strongest winds
Next-generation lithium batteries – lithium-sulfur and solid-state batteries pack more energy into less weight with a lower fire risk
Energy solutions for a planet under pressure
