© Jessica Davies/DCT Media 
A survey of the top 100 energy companies in the UK has found that 15 had no female board members in 2025, which the report warns poses an “outsized risk to business”.
The report conducted by Powerful Women and Bain & Co polled 100 of the UK’s biggest energy employers, representing a combined workforce of more than 230,000 employees in the UK.
The energy industry has made “bittersweet” progress in appointing women to executive leadership positions, Powerful Women chair Monica Collings said on Wednesday.
Nearly three quarters, or 73%, of these UK energy companies had no female executive directors on their boards, reflecting a lack of diversity in senior executive roles, the report said.
Companies have plateaued in terms of the number of women appointed to executive leadership roles.
The annual report shows that an average of only 16% of businesses in the sector, out of 100 leading energy companies, had appointed women to executive leadership roles – a mere one percentage point increase on last year.
Women in leadership roles remained flat at 34%, at executive committee level or higher, “indicating stagnation in senior leadership opportunities for women”, according to the report.
Collings said that “transparent” gender reporting is needed within the energy industry to ensure progress.
The largest gains for women were made in middle-management roles, two rungs down from leadership positions, with 34% of these positions comprised of women.
This “suggests a stronger pipeline of female leaders is emerging”, but that must be “nurtured and translated into leadership-level progression”, the report said.
Large companies with more than 2,000 employees were more likely to have female leadership and board representation, according to the report.
Profit potential
Critically, companies that fail to place women in executive roles could sacrifice on performance.
The report showed that more than one third of companies in the top quartile for gender-diverse executive teams are “more likely” to deliver increased profitability.
National Grid Electricity Distribution president Cordi O’Hara said the UK is experiencing a “once in a lifetime shift in our energy systems”, presenting an opportunity to hire the best people.
Delays to energy projects have shown that the industry has been “ineffective” and that the “best” talent is needed to succeed, added Bain & Co senior partner Olga Muscat.
Board representation
The FTSE Women Leaders Review has set a target of 40% female representation on FTSE boards and leadership teams by the end of 2025.
This latest report shows that each of the top 100 companies in the energy sector must add five female leadership team members by the end of the decade to achieve 40%.
Among the top 100 energy companies, some 68% of companies are performing below where they need to be in terms of female representation on boards – flat compared to 2024.
Just 9% of companies had a female chair of the board in 2025, with such chairs remaining “scarce”, the report added.
Of the companies succeeding in meeting the 40% target, 42% were in the oil and gas sector, 29% were in power and utilities and 29% were in alternative and renewables companies.
NextEnergy Solar Fund, Veolia Group and Greencoat UK Wind were the top performers in the list for female board representation. Among the top-performing companies, the report said that 13 now have gender parity, with half or more women on their boards.
These include multinational companies such as BP, Chevron and Veolia.
