If the global energy sector is to meet the demands of a growing population, expanding digital infrastructure, and the urgent need for decarbonisation, it must embrace a new paradigm: energy addition. This approach recognises that the world needs more energy from all sources – renewables, natural gas, nuclear, and even oil – to ensure security, affordability, and sustainability.

ADIPEC 2025, the world's largest energy conference, provided compelling proof points that energy addition is not just a concept – it's a strategic imperative.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, outlined a bold vision for energy addition, pegging the required capital investment at US$4 trillion. He emphasised that global electricity demand will soar through 2040, driven in part by a fourfold increase in power needs from data centres. To meet this demand, renewable energy capacity must more than double, LNG use must rise by 50%, and jet fuel supply must expand by 30%. "It's not only about oil or gas," Al Jaber said. "There is a requirement for more… definitely more oil, definitely more gas, definitely more renewable energy."

ADIPEC 2025 also witnessed 35,000 real-world deals totalling over US$46 billion that exemplify energy addition in action. One of the most significant was ADNOC's entry into the YPF and Eni LNG project – a US$12.5 billion initiative in Argentina that will include two floating LNG plants with a capacity of 12 million tonnes per year, expandable to 18 million.

Across the four days of the event, more than 1,800 speakers – including 45 global ministers – echoed the call for greater collaboration and investment, particularly to enable greater energy security and inclusivity and fast-track innovation in transformational technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Finance is particularly important to enable the technological breakthroughs needed to further decarbonise our energy system, as Zubin Bamji, Manager Energy and Extractives Global Department, The World Bank Group explained.

He said: "Finance is one of the key missing elements in this ecosystem of methane and flaring decarbonisation, and the World Bank would like to play a role in that gap. The idea was to provide catalytic funding that is needed in many developing countries or emerging economies for them to recognize that there is actually an opportunity here."

And to ensure this global push for energy addition also includes the developing world – which accounts for a major proportion of the over 2.7 billion people lacking secure access to modern energy services – their particular needs and challenges must be addressed. Many developing nations face persistent challenges such as unreliable access, high borrowing costs, massive infrastructure development needs, and huge project funding requirements.

As explained by Rt. Honourable Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister for State (Gas) Petroleum Resources, Nigeria, "Energy security and energy transition for Nigeria and Africa must be sequential, just and equitable, not a one-size-fits-all pathway designed by others. It cannot be a platform that undermines a nation's economic stability or leaves millions behind."

As the energy sector moves forward, ADIPEC 2025 made clear that energy addition is not a detour from the transition – it's the next chapter. By expanding supply across all sources and investing in infrastructure, innovation, and partnerships, the global energy community is laying the foundation for a future that is secure, sustainable, and inclusive.

ADIPEC 2026 takes place on 2-5 November 2026. To find out more about the world's largest energy conference and exhibition, visit www.adipec.com.