The leaders of BP, Drax, Engie, EON UK, Subsea 7 and Wood have signed up to a public commitment to improve gender diversity and inclusion within their own organisations and across the UK energy sector.
The Energy Leaders’ Coalition (ELC) has been set up in response to the poor level of female representation at senior levels in the industry, recognising that better balance is good for business.
The six companies collectively represent more than 66,000 employees in the UK.
The new members are BPs SVP Europe and head of country UK Peter Mather, Drax CEO Will Gardiner, Engie CEO Nicola Lovett (pictured), EON UK CEO Michael Lewis, Subsea 7 CEO John Evans and Wood chief executive Robin Watson.
They join the existing eight members of the ELC formed in May 2018 as part of POWERful Women’s campaign to advance the careers of women in energy.
Recent analysis by PwC of the boards of the top c.80 UK energy companies showed that representation at senior levels remains low.
Around 21% of board seats are occupied by women – up from 16% in 2019 and 13% in 2018, and 13% of executive board seats are occupied by women – more than double last year’s 6%
However, more than a third (38%) of the UK’s top energy companies have no women on their boards at all and over two-thirds (79%) have no women occupying executive board seats.
Board member of POWERful Women and chief executive of the Energy Institute Louise Kingham OBE FEI, said: “We’re delighted to welcome six new members to the Energy Leaders’ Coalition. Each is demonstrating true leadership on gender diversity and inclusion.
“They recognise that their business will be better equipped for the energy and economic challenges that lie ahead if it can tap into the very best talent available, and they are also sending a powerful message to other major employers in the industry.
“The ELC is a safe space created by POWERful Women for company leaders to interact honestly with their peers and to explore the diversity and inclusion ideas that matter and the strategies that work.
“They find it helpful not just for gender diversity, but for taking care of everyone in their organisation.
“We’re looking forward to working with the new members to ramp up progress on female representation in the sector as we still have a long way to go.”