Energy Equality is now More Imperative than Ever Before

I have been attending energy forums for years, and the conversations usually revolve around the same issues of supply, energy security, and transition. This year’s Egypt Energy Show 2026 is no different. The only thing that has changed is the intensity/urgency behind those conversations, mainly because we are collectively witnessing a major energy crisis.

Therefore, we need immediate solutions to a global energy system already under strain.
One theme that has dominated discussions among policymakers, investors, and industry leaders is the ongoing disruption to global energy flows following the escalation of the Iran conflict and the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The result has been sharp volatility in oil and gas markets, rising insurance and shipping costs, and renewed anxiety about supply reliability across Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Recent warnings from multilateral institutions have gone as far as describing this period as one of the most severe energy shocks in decades, with implications extending well beyond hydrocarbons into food prices, inflation, and fiscal stability.

The economic fallout of this energy crisis is exactly why energy inequality can no longer be treated as a secondary development issue. It has become a structural global risk.

When energy flows are disrupted at this scale, the effects do not remain contained within exporting regions. They cascade. That is why Europe is currently facing price volatility and industrial pressure. And Asia has responded with emergency procurement and fuel substitution strategies. Meanwhile, emerging economies, already constrained by infrastructure gaps, are absorbing the shock through higher import bills, currency pressure, and reduced fiscal space for development spending.

Governments are already adjusting domestic policy in response to rising import costs and fuel inflation. Some are scaling back fuel-intensive public projects, and others are tightening consumption. These are not abstract market reactions; they are real economic constraints shaping growth trajectories.

The deeper issue, however, is not the shock itself, but the asymmetry of resilience. Advanced economies can cushion volatility through reserves, diversified supply contracts, and fiscal buffers. Many developing economies cannot. They are price takers in the most literal sense, exposed to global shocks without the institutional or financial capacity to absorb them.

We should be honest about what this means for the global transition narrative. A fragmented transition where some regions decarbonise rapidly while others struggle to achieve basic reliability risks embedding inequality into the next phase of global growth. The challenge is not only to accelerate decarbonisation, but to ensure that energy systems are built on a foundation of access and resilience first.

Energy infrastructure in underserved markets cannot continue to be evaluated purely through short-term return horizons. It must be understood as foundational global infrastructure, equivalent in importance to ports, digital networks, and healthcare systems. Without reliable power, none of these systems functions effectively.

At the same time, we must move beyond ideological rigidity in how we think about solutions. The global system will not transition through a single technology or pathway. It will transition through layers—renewables, gas as a stabiliser, storage systems, grid expansion, and decentralised solutions working in parallel, depending on geography and development stage.

What I have taken from the discussions here in Cairo is that energy inequality is no longer an abstract imbalance between North and South. It is a shared vulnerability that now affects the entire system, albeit in different forms. In a world of interconnected supply chains and shared price exposure, no region is insulated from instability. Therefore, we must all work together to ensure equal energy access for all.