General Electric is racing to keep pace with seismic shifts in the global energy industry, as its new leadership moves to eliminate bloat and grapples with the fallout from earlier, ill-timed decisions.

In one of the most visible moves, the company said on Thursday that it would cut 12,000 jobs in its power division, reducing the size of the unit’s work force by 18 percent.

The announcement is an acknowledgment that the company has not been properly positioned for where the energy market is headed. Oil and natural gas markets are dealing with a glut of supply and companies like General Electric have been forced to cut prices on their services. The long-term demand for renewable energy is growing globally, even as the American political climate damps its short-term prospects. And G.E. faces a raft of competition from international rivals in all those areas.

Just look at the company’s business for the big turbines at the heart of electricity-generating plants. Although more coal is being burned and shipped this year in much of the world, the trends favor renewable sources, where production costs are rapidly falling. Fewer coal and gas-fired power plants are being built, leaving more companies fighting over fewer projects. The result: G.E. is sitting on a pile of excess inventory.