Across the global energy sector, a quiet but significant shift is underway. The debate around energy usage is intensifying because the pressures on it are becoming more real: grid queues, water resource pressures, increased industrial electrification and the need for reliable power at every hour of the day to match changing demand patterns. Recent strategy resets among global energy majors BP, Shell and ExxonMobil illustrate a greater focus on delivering reliable supply and ensuring that infrastructure can meet fast-growing power demand.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global electricity demand to grow at an average annual rate of 3.6% between 2026 and 2030. That represents an acceleration of around 50% from the average pace of growth over the past decade. Global data center electricity consumption is already spiking, driven in particular by the rapid expansion of AI-focused facilities. That trend shows no signs of slowing down.
The IEA estimates that data center electricity demand rose 17% in 2025, with AI-focused facilities seeing demand skyrocket by around 50%. AI may be digital in use, but it is deeply physical in its requirements. It needs land, energy grids, clean power, water, cooling and flexible supply.
That is why the question facing governments and the energy industry is changing. As AI and other sources of electricity demand grow rapidly, the question is no longer which source of energy will grow fastest or which project will attract the most attention. The more practical question is how do we build the right energy mix in order to provide reliable, affordable and progressively lower-carbon power under increasing pressure? A solar farm or desalination plant does not, in itself, create a national advantage. It becomes an advantage when it is integrated into a diversified and synchronized ecosystem.
Here in Abu Dhabi, we have been building that ecosystem for more than five decades. We have developed an energy and water architecture in which the right energy mix delivers secure, sustainable and affordable energy, working in harmony with grid planning, water desalination and reuse, and underpinned by progressive regulation and long-horizon capital. Our approach is not to choose between energy security and sustainability, but to remove that false trade-off through system design, built on four elements.
The first of these is responsible hydrocarbon production. Oil and gas will remain important to global energy security for years to come, especially in sectors where alternatives need time to scale. The question for producers is therefore becoming more focused: how can these resources be produced and used more efficiently?
The performance of hydrocarbons must be considered as part of a wider system that is simultaneously scaling clean electricity input and improving efficiency across the value chain.
Murban crude, produced by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), has a carbon intensity less than half the global industry average. Meanwhile, the use of clean grid power through ADNOC’s partnership with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) is helping to further reduce its emissions profile.
The second element is delivering clean, reliable power at scale, especially for fast-growing economies. Solar can scale quickly where the resource is strong. Nuclear can provide continuous low-carbon electricity. Gas can support flexibility as demand grows.
The challenge is integrating these resources into a power system that can consistently meet the needs of households, industry and critical infrastructure every hour of the day. Abu Dhabi’s experience shows how long-term planning can deliver a diverse, resilient energy mix. EWEC has met more than 80% of the emirate’s total power demand using renewable and clean energy from solar and nuclear sources. The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant provides a large-scale clean baseload, while Masdar’s global renewable energy portfolio has reached 65GW and is set to increase to 100GW by 2030. Together, these assets show how clean power can become a core part of a balanced and secure energy mix.
The third element is water. A data center needs electricity, but it also needs water for cooling. A desalination plant provides water, while also creating energy demand. Treating these as separate challenges increases cost and complexity over time. In arid regions, it is also one of the clearest tests of whether resilience has been designed into the system from the outset.
For Abu Dhabi, water security is part of the same economic platform as energy security. We have built resilience through diversified desalination, energy demand management and long-term infrastructure planning. This is increasingly important as water scarcity places pressure on communities and infrastructure, even in traditionally water-secure regions, leading to restrictions and, in some cases, constraints on power generation. Our experience shows the value of planning for these pressures before they constrain growth.
As the United Nations convenes its Water Conference in Abu Dhabi in December this year, co-hosted by the UAE and Senegal, it will be a timely opportunity to reinforce the connection between water security and energy infrastructure, technology and long-term investment.
The fourth element is capital with a long-term horizon. Energy systems require investment cycles measured in decades. Generation and storage, grids, and digital infrastructure all depend on capital that can look beyond short-term market conditions. They also require forward-looking regulation, agile planning and commercial foresight to move together successfully.
This is becoming especially important as the AI economy expands. AI infrastructure will compete on the speed and reliability of the power and water systems behind it. The UAE-US AI Campus, with a planned 1 GW cluster in Abu Dhabi, shows how energy, water, and digital infrastructure are becoming part of the same competitiveness equation.
Abu Dhabi’s Energy and Water Resilience Framework strengthens how we anticipate risk across infrastructure, governance, technology and operations, so that essential systems can continue to perform as conditions change. Such resilience is not separate from competitiveness. It is part of what gives economies the confidence and capacity to keep growing through disruption.
Today, governments and investors are increasingly looking at how infrastructure can keep pace with demand in the decades to come.
In that sense, Abu Dhabi’s model is relevant beyond the UAE. The opportunity now is to build on these lessons through closer cooperation across governments, industry, technology and capital in order to create energy systems that can perform reliably as demand and complexity continue to grow.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.