Powering Our Future: Young People Shaping North America’s Energy Transition

Powering Our Future: Young People Shaping North America’s Energy Transition is a youth-centered forum convening young people, policymakers, energy-sector leaders, researchers, investors, civil society organizations, Indigenous leaders, and other practitioners during Climate Week NYC 2026. The forum will explore what kind of energy future young people in North America want—and what needs to change to achieve it. Discussions will address clean energy and electrification, affordability and access, climate and environmental justice, energy security and resilience, employment and the future of work, innovation, financing, grid modernization, artificial intelligence and rising electricity demand, and meaningful youth participation in energy decision-making. Young people will constitute the majority of participants and will hold visible roles as speakers, facilitators, questioners, and priority-setters. Through leadership interventions, an open youth forum, direct dialogue with energy leaders, and a solutions and commitments session, participants will work toward a concise set of three to five youth energy priorities. The event is intended to generate concrete partnerships, institutional commitments, professional and educational opportunities, and pathways for continued regional collaboration. Its outcomes will support the development of a continuing North American youth energy community and future engagement between young people and institutions shaping the region’s energy transition.