We see the price at the pump, we see the numbers on our electric bill, and we certainly notice when heating, transportation, food, or manufacturing becomes more expensive. But beneath these everyday costs sits something much bigger… the fact that energy is infrastructure for human stability.

When energy is affordable, reliable, and accessible, communities have room to grow, businesses can operate, hospitals can function, children can learn, and people can connect to the digital economy. When energy becomes unreliable, unaffordable, or inaccessible, the consequences travel quickly through households, markets, institutions, and nations. This makes energy more than just an environmental or economic issue. Energy is a peace issue.

The numbers tell us an important story. In 2026, the World Bank reported that 655 million people still lacked access to electricity, while roughly 2 billion people continued to rely on polluting cooking fuels and technologies. Many of those without electricity live in rural, low-income, or conflict-affected communities… the very places where resilient infrastructure can be hardest to build. So what happens when energy insecurity meets economic insecurity? Who has the ability to learn, work, build a business, access healthcare, or participate in a digital world, and who is left waiting for the lights to come on, if ever?

But there’s another side to this equation, for energy can also be an engine of opportunity. The International Energy Agency reports that global energy employment reached 76 million jobs in 2024, growing nearly twice as fast as employment across the broader economy. Renewable energy alone accounted for at least 16.6 million jobs! This is more than a statistic, but a glimpse of what infrastructure can create when investment, innovation, education, and human potential move in the same direction.

But opportunity does not automatically equal inclusion. The energy transition is already changing what skills employers need, where jobs are created, and who can participate. The IEA identifies skilled-worker shortages as a growing constraint, while IRENA and the ILO emphasize education, training, and inclusive workforce development as essential to the transition.

Perhaps the peacebuilding opportunity isn’t to simply produce more energy, but to build systems that expand human possibility. Can we create energy infrastructure that powers communities, education that prepares people for emerging industries, and technologies that create opportunity rather than deepen divides? For we know that peace is in no way passive. Peace is something we build—through systems, infrastructure, institutions, and choices that shape everyday life.

So what if the next generation(s) of energy infrastructure were designed not only to power our world, but to make our world more resilient, equitable, innovative, and peaceful? Now this is the kind of future worth powering.