SDG7 calls for affordable, reliable energy for all by 2030. While 92% of the global population has basic electricity access, 750 million people remain underserved. Geopolitical tensions and market volatility are reshaping energy systems, placing security, affordability, and energy sovereignty at the forefront of national priorities. Governments, regulators, and utilities must balance affordability, resilience, and decarbonisation while ensuring stable and diversified supply. Market design, regulatory frameworks, and targeted interventions will be critical to maintaining system stability in an increasingly volatile global energy landscape.

Water scarcity is a growing global concern, intensified by climate pressures and rising geopolitical tensions that place additional strain on critical natural resources. Nowhere is this challenge more acute than in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the world’s most water-stressed region. Across the region, desalination is not supplementary - it is essential to daily life. While it has enabled rapid development, it also creates strategic vulnerabilities by linking water security to energy systems and geopolitical stability. Improving water security scarcity requires demand management, regional interconnections, and stronger infrastructure resilience across integrated water–energy systems.

Global supply chains underpinning energy and utilities infrastructure are under increasing strain from geopolitical tensions, trade bottlenecks, and resource constraints. Dependencies on limited suppliers -from critical minerals to system equipment - pose significant risks to project timelines, reliability, and the resilience of critical infrastructure. Disruptions at key chokepoints can escalate rapidly, creating cascading bottlenecks across markets. In response, utilities and governments are prioritising diversification, localisation, and strategic long-term partnerships to secure access to essential materials and technologies. Strengthening supply chain resilience will be critical to delivering infrastructure at the pace and scale required, supported by coordinated international mechanisms and strategic industrial policy.

Global energy transition investment reached a record USD 2.3 trillion in 2025, rising by 8% from the prior year. The largest investment flows were directed toward electrified transport, renewable energy, and grid infrastructure, highlighting the central role of electrification in the evolving energy system. Despite this growth, grid investment continues to lag, posing an increasing risk to energy security. At the same time, geopolitical dynamics are reshaping capital flows, with increased state involvement, regional alignment, and evolving risk perceptions influencing investment decisions. Utilities must explore innovative financing models and partnerships to mobilise capital at scale and modernise critical infrastructure in an increasingly complex and fragmented global landscape. It is important to align capital with the direction of the system.

As the world enters the Age of Electricity, with demand accelerating faster than overall energy consumption and reshaping modern economies, resilience is becoming a defining feature of power systems. The systems underpinning the new energy economy are defined not only by what they produce, but by how well they withstand stress, manage volatility, and recover from disruption. In increasingly volatile markets, flexibility and speed are becoming key drivers of both reliability and profitability. In the Middle East, rapid demand growth makes this especially critical. Improving efficiency, enhancing flexibility, and deploying smart grid technologies will help manage peak demand, maintain reliability, and balance supply, while digital services enable greater consumer participation and system stability.

Renewable energy systems depend on innovation. Digital transformation enhances grid efficiency, increases the integration of renewables, and manages demand effectively. Progress in hard technologies, such as solar, wind, and energy storage, is crucial. Additionally, sensors, AI, and analytics are revolutionising energy production. Yet the systems required to support this transformation, from grids and data centres to governance frameworks and geopolitical alliances, are evolving far more slowly than the technology themselves. Unlocking the full potential of digitally enabled “new infrastructure” requires coordinated action across the value chain, supported by strategic investment, clear policy direction, and strong cross-sector collaboration.

Compute power is critical as AI grows. The scale of data centre investment is set to significantly reshape energy markets, with nearly $7 trillion in projected capital deployment by 2030, including around $1.3 trillion for power generation, cooling, and electrical infrastructure. This creates a sustainability paradox: a technology positioned as an efficiency enabler may also intensify carbon emissions, water demand from cooling, and grid stress if not carefully managed. Power systems already under strain must adapt quickly, as renewable capacity struggles to keep pace. Addressing these pressures will require integrated planning, innovation, and coordinated action across policy, finance, and infrastructure.

In an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment, policy and regulatory frameworks must evolve beyond stability to enable adaptability and resilience. Governments are playing a more active role in shaping energy and utilities markets, balancing national priorities with global climate commitments. Clear, consistent, and forward-looking policy frameworks are critical to unlocking investment and enabling long-term system planning. In a fragmented geopolitical landscape, stronger coordination across sectors and regions will be essential to deliver resilient, secure, and scalable infrastructure systems.