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Chandra Marsono, licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 A new study by the Climate Opinion Research Exchange finds that European business leaders are firmly behind reducing dependence on imported energy and increasing investment in renewable energy. Indeed, their support is often stronger than that of the general public.
The survey was conducted by Norstat for CORE in August 2026 in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.
Research findings
We wanted to see if business leaders and the general public hold differing perspectives on climate policy, clean energy, energy security, and competitiveness. Mostly, we were interested in whether business leaders perceive the energy transition as an impediment or enabler of their, and Europe’s, competitiveness.
We found a high degree of consensus between business leaders and the general public on Europe’s top priorities. The cost of living, the environment and climate change, and immigration rank among the leading priorities for both groups. The public places greater emphasis on health, while business leaders cited economic growth. On energy specifically, businesses and the public largely want the same thing: lower bills, better security, and less dependence on foreign imports.
Underlying these views is a shared concern about the pressures affecting households and businesses. International conflict, economic uncertainty and extreme weather are all contributing to concerns about rising living costs and energy prices. Against this backdrop, policies that can reduce or stabilise energy costs have strong appeal across both groups.
Renewable energy is increasingly seen as an economic imperative
Business leaders are particularly positive about the economic case for renewable energy. Across the countries surveyed, there was broad agreement that investing in renewables can strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and energy security while reducing exposure to energy price shocks. Business leaders consistently expressed this view at least as strongly as the public and often considerably more strongly.
Among business leaders, 83% in Italy, 78% in the Netherlands, 77% in France, 76% in Denmark and 74% in Germany say that investing in renewable energy will strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, security and resilience to energy price shocks. In France especially, business support was greater than public opinion. Business leaders are also much more confident that Europe’s global energy position will become more competitive than the general public across all ten countries surveyed.
These results indicate that business leaders are increasingly seeing renewable energy as part of the response to Europe’s economic and geopolitical vulnerabilities.
Reducing energy dependence is a shared priority
There is a strong consensus among both business leaders and the public respondents that Europe should reduce its reliance on imported energy over the next decade. In the surveyed countries, over three-quarters of European citizens view reducing energy import dependency within the next ten years as important or very important with support particularly high in Italy (83%), Poland (82%), Spain (82%), Denmark (80%), and France (80%).
Once again sentiment was stronger among business leaders. Across the ten countries, 83% consider reducing Europe’s energy import dependence over the next decade important or very important. More than 80% supported this in Spain (87%), Denmark (87%), France (86%), Italy (85%), Greece (85%), the Netherlands (85%), Germany (84%), and Poland (83%). There is also a sense of urgency behind these figures. In Italy, Spain, Germany and France, more than six in ten business leaders describe reducing energy import dependence as very important.
These results reinforce earlier findings commissioned by E3G, We Mean Business Coalition and the Global Renewables Alliance in April 2026.
Clean energy is seen as supporting Europe’s competitiveness
Both groups saw clean energy as a sector where Europe had the greatest opportunity to be more competitive, lead global markets, and the top sector to prioritize. Clear majorities of the public saw clean energy as the main path to leadership, led by 64% in Hungary and 63% in Italy, alongside strong support in Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, and Spain.
Business respondents agreed in all surveyed countries except Germany, which prioritised AI. Looking at impact on their own businesses, the largest benefits would generally be seen in AI, cybersecurity and clean energy. Clean energy was seen as having the greatest benefit for the business leaders’ companies in Italy (jointly with AI), Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark. Notable shares in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland name advanced manufacturing.
Data centres should be powered by renewable energy
A majority of both the public and business respondents believe Europe should require all new data centres to be powered by renewable energy and not take existing water capacity.
Methane regulations
We also asked about the EU Methane Regulations. Business leaders reported greater or similar levels of support for gas suppliers consistent standards for detecting and reducing methane leakage, regardless of where gas is produced, and are substantially more likely to believe that reducing methane leakage is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to reduce energy waste.
Methodology
The research was conducted through public opinion polling commissioned via Norstat in August 2026. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2000 general public respondents in each of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece. We also surveyed 500 business leaders in each of Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands and, due to smaller population sizes, 250 business leaders were interviewed in Denmark, 100 in Hungary, 100 in Bulgaria, and 150 in Greece.
The margin of error for the general public sample is ±2.2% at the national level at a 95% confidence interval. For the business leader sample, statistical precision varies by cohort size: ±4.4% for markets with 500 respondents and ±9.8% for markets with 100 respondents. Data presented reflects the proportion of respondents within each respective national sample. Respondents for both surveys were interviewed via computer assisted web based interviewing (CAWI).