Imagine, for a moment, what it means to talk about energy when you have your whole life ahead of you. For thousands of young people across Latin America and the Caribbean, energy is not simply a matter of power generation mixes or technologies on paper. It is about asking who has access to quality education, who gets their first meaningful job opportunity, who develops new skills, and who finally earns a seat at the table where critical decisions are made.
This perspective shaped the morning of October 5, 2026, in Santo Domingo, at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), during the Second Latin American and Caribbean Youth Meeting on Energy, held ahead of the 11th Energy Week.
Organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE), together with UNPHU, CEUS Chile, and Youth4Energy, the event had a clear objective: to connect networks of young talent and turn their collective energy into a genuine capacity to influence decisions.
The discussions quickly revealed that meaningful participation goes far beyond training alone. Panels led by young people from across the region explored issues ranging from community leadership and power system flexibility to energy storage, smart grids, workforce reskilling, and emerging skills.
Yet one concern ran through the conversations: how to bridge the gap between knowledge acquired in the classroom and the real opportunities to put it into practice in businesses, governments, universities, and civil society organizations.
The energy transition needs tangible opportunities for young people to work, innovate, launch businesses, and shape public policy—not merely spaces where they are invited to listen or learn.
From a local and community-based perspective, Paola Acevedo of Sustenta Honduras connected the energy transition to a reality often overlooked in technical discussions: rural communities.
Drawing on her work in remote communities across Honduras, she explained how the lack of electricity undermines children’s education and how solar solutions can transform everyday life—from printing classroom materials and studying after sunset to accessing medical care.
Her message carried particular weight: energy innovation must begin with the real needs of communities while creating pathways to training, employment, and leadership for more young people, especially women, to enter the energy sector and shape their own futures.
Echoing this vision, Andrés Rebolledo, Executive Secretary of OLACDE, emphasized a fundamental point: youth participation is not merely a promise for the future. “Not because they will be protagonists in the future, but because they already are today,” he said, highlighting the active role young people already play in academia, civil society, and professional life.
From Brazil, Ana Julia Carvalho of ENETRIX reinforced this message by calling for a decisive shift in the role of young people: “For us to move beyond simply accessing information and begin making decisions, it is important that we participate in developing solutions.” Young people do not simply want to join the debate; they want to design the tools and projects that will transform the energy sector.
The meeting has also helped lay the groundwork for a more formal institutional pathway. Building on the discussions held during the first edition in Santiago, Chile, OLACDE proposed that ministers from its Member Countries establish a youth council to provide formal continuity to this dialogue. One conclusion stands out: the energy future of Latin America and the Caribbean will depend on new networks, technologies, and investment—but, above all, on who is given the opportunity today to envision, design, and govern these transformations.
Bringing young people into the energy transition is neither a generational concession nor a promise to be fulfilled tomorrow. It is an essential condition for ensuring that the transition is genuinely just, responsive to the needs of local communities, and capable of turning innovation into shared development.
