This decision to postpone our event was made to ensure that SES is the most impactful, inclusive, and accessible gathering possible. The Student Energy Summit is the world’s largest youth-led gathering on energy, and we are committed to delivering an event that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of young leaders from across the globe.

By moving the Summit to early 2026, we are creating more space between SES and COP30, which will also be hosted in Belém, Brazil this year. This timing allows both events to maintain their importance, while minimizing logistical hurdles for youth organizers and attendees, many of whom play vital roles in both spaces.

The postponement also ensures we can:

• Provide sufficient bursaries and accessibility support so youth from all regions and backgrounds can fully participate.
• Deliver the highest quality programming and experience that our participants, speakers, and partners expect.
• Support our youth organizing team with the time and resources they need to bring their vision to life at the scale SES is known for.

Hosting SES in the heart of the Amazon is both historic and deeply significant. The Amazon is a critical ecosystem for our planet and home to diverse communities and youth leaders who are shaping innovative solutions for a just and sustainable energy future. This will be the first time SES is held in the Amazon, and we are thrilled to partner with UFAM to make this vision a reality.

📅 Applications open October 13, 2025, at 10:00am Brazil Standard Time (9:00am EDT).

We cannot wait to welcome young people from around the world to Manaus for this landmark event spotlighting youth leadership and global collaboration in the energy transition. Together, we will continue building momentum for a sustainable, just, and inclusive future.

Stay tuned for more updates and join us on the road to #SES2026 in the heart of the Amazon.

🌐Visit our website: www.studentenergysummit.org 

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @studentenergysummit

On October 8th, we hosted Energize 2021, this year’s International Student Energy Summit! With over 500 registrations, this was our first ever virtual SES – thank you so much to everyone who joined us from around the world. As we can’t yet safely gather with our global community, our team decided to transform our flagship biennial event, the International Student Energy Summit, into an entirely virtual summit open to all. Energize used a mix of live digital keynotes, interactive workshops, and curated content to create a day of virtual learning and connection. We also brought back all the best parts of our Student Energy Summits – our youth-led panels!​

Here’s a snapshot of what we did during Energize 2021:

• ​Hosted a total of 24 sessions, including 5 panels and 14 workshops led by young people in Student Energy’s network
• Featured over 35 speakers with expertise in diverse fields, from entrepreneurship to communications to policy
• ​Officially launched the bids for hosting SES 2023, for youth who want to bring the Summit to their country. Stay tuned for more on this!
• ​Featured a Creative Showcase with 10 incredible artworks by @kehlervisions, who is currently working towards a groundbreaking trip to Antarctica – check out her work here.
• Hosted a fun virtual photo booth

Changemakers Panel

A Student Energy classic, this year’s Changemakers panel featured Student Energy Alumni Andreas Lehner, Mihskakwan James Harper and Ashley Pilipiszyn (moderated by Grace Young), who shared insights and inspired the delegates with stories on their journey to executing their visions for the future of energy.

Clockwise from top left: Grace Young (Moderator), Mihskakwan James Harper, Andreas Lehner, Ashley Pilipiszyn.

Unpacking Energy Challenges: What We Can Do To Speed Up The Transition 

“We need to build capacity. A pathway to success for new venture creation, or scaling small and medium-sized businesses in communities that are most marginalized. If we don’t invest in the capacity of people, then we’re never going to get a just transition.” – Sherry Kennedy

Michael Liebreich (CEO and Chairman of Liebreich Associates), Sherry Kennedy (Director of Communications Sustainable Energy for All), and Sharron McPherson (Chief Executive Officer of Women in Infrastructure Development Pty Ltd) joined us in this session to discuss the biggest energy challenges, and provided insights on making an impact in the energy industry.

Clockwise from top left: Meredith Adler (Moderator), Sherry Kennedy, Michael Liebreich, Sharron McPherson.

The Global Youth Energy Outlook (GYEO) is the first youth-led research project of its kind to engage over 30,000 young people ages 18 to 30 around the world and share their perspectives on the energy transition. Three of our regional coordinators Arsenii Kirgizov-Barskii, Paola Flores Carvajal, and Nyashadzashe Kunaka on the GYEO Panel also shared initial insights from the survey data, and regional considerations they have uncovered through their work.

Clockwise from top left: Arsenii Kirgizov-Barskii, Paola Flores Carvajal, Shakti Ramkumar (Moderator)

Energize also included a number of youth-led workshops young energy leaders to collaborate, design and proffer solutions to energy challenges.

Find the full video recap of sessions and workshops here.

What Next?

We have many engagements and participation in the forthcoming COP26. This includes the official launch event of our youth-led research initiative, the Global Youth Energy Outlook, at the Glasgow Science Show Theatre on November 4th – this event is open to all as it is in the Green Zone. We will also be attending and supporting youth engagement for the SDG 7 Pavilion at COP26, hosted in the Blue Zone (for attendees with accreditation). The program co-hosted by Sustainable Energy for All, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the IKEA Foundation will provide a venue for critical and inclusive conversations on the energy transition and the importance of closing the energy access gap.

Stay tuned on all our social media platforms to receive updates on our engagements!

At SES 2017 in Merida, Mexico, Cory Beaver first shared his vision for a Canada-wide Indigenous Student Energy Summit. The International Student Energy Summit was an empowering experience for Cory, showing him that young people could lead and implement large-scale impactful projects in different contexts around the world. Just over a year later, Cory, along with Co-Chair Disa Crowchief (also a SES 2017 delegate), realized their vision and ran Canada’s first-ever Indigenous youth-led energy summit in Calgary. SevenGen united 200 Indigenous youth from every province and territory across Canada to learn how they can lead in Canada’s energy transition, with every province and territory represented.

The success of SevenGen led Cory to bring a delegation of Indigenous youth to the 2019 International Student Energy Summit, to provide pathways for more Indigenous youth to take action on energy issues in their communities.

SES 2019 Indigenous Delegation – Report

About the SES 2019 Changemakers:

Churchill Agutu – South Africa

Founder of the Africa Green Collar Project

Churchill attended SES2017 in Merida, Mexico, where he first began to explore energy solutions from a socio-techno-economic perspective. Churchill has a background in Chemical Engineering, and presented some of his research findings on improving the performance of solar cells, to students during SES 2017. Residing in South Africa where the energy transition is still in its nascent stages and an estimated 60% of the population are youth, he’s pursed work focusing on the intersection between youth empowerment, climate change, and energy policy. Churchill is the Founder of the Africa Green Collar Project, which is working to build a knowledge economy for young people in Africa, to enable them to create a sustainable future for the continent. He also works as an analyst at a global not-for-profit company working in the low carbon space. Previously, he worked as a Climate Change Advisor at a climate change advisory firm working in South Africa’s climate change environment.  

 Churchill is also a former project leader for the Engineers Without Borders UP Litre of Light (LOL) Project in South Africa, and he has been involved in other projects that originated at SES 2017, including a project where he worked with an international cohort of students to build cooking stoves for a local community in Zavalla, Mexico.

Joshua Miguel Lopez – Phillippines

Assistant Program Coordinator, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Philippines

Attending SES 2017 introduced Joshua to climate and renewable energy work, where he was exposed to changemakers who, despite their youth, had pursued leadership roles in shaping the energy future. Joshua works in the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Philippine Office on climate action and renewable energy and created the Renewable Energy Bootcamp or REBOOT, a program that trains youth from various professions to pilot renewable energy projects that also solve development needs in marginalized communities.  Joshua also created the Renewable Energy Congress, a national multi-stakeholder conference that brings together leaders from politics, local government, industry, academe, and civil society. Its goal is to build a broad consensus and develop catalytic projects that will accelerate the renewable energy transition in the Philippines.

Alec Macklis – USA

Founder and CEO of Gridspan Energy

At SES 2017 in Merida, Mexico, Alec gained access to key advisors and mentors who have helped him to build his company, Gridspan Energy. The company is pioneering new market and new use-case for energy storage systems with clear value and market in small island developing states (SIDS). To date they have raised over $700,000 in funding, have public-facing signature and agreement of 1st project with both the Government of Anguilla and ANGLEC a local utility. Alec has lived the Student Energy experience of creating a company that understands multi-disciplinary nature of energy and the challenging road of commercializing a novel, technology-enabled business model.

“Student Energy has had a huge influence on my career path. I ended up meeting a great mentor who was a founder of Student Energy, a co-founder of Student Energy: Janice Tran and she played a big role in mentoring me and advising during the last two years of starting this company” – Alec Macklis

Emma Wiesner – Sweden

Energy Marketing Analyst at SWECO; Centerpartiet First Substitute for the European Parliament

Emma gained valuable understanding of the international perspective of energy while attending SES 2015 in Bali, Indonesia. Her experience there inspired her to work in the European energy system and ultimately to run for European Parliament in the 2019 election as an engineer wanting to change the energy system politically. She’s working as a young candidate to the European Parliament to empower youth in the energy sector through politics. With a foot in both the energy industry and in energy policy, Emma helps her clients understand the energy transition, create scenarios for the future energy system, and analyse policy instruments. 

“Student Energy gave me this really international perspective. I’ve always been involved in politics, so I’ve been mixing politics with engineering and energy engineering and always knew that I wanted to work with policy to influence society, but before Student Energy I was more interested in national politics. But Student Energy really broadened my perspective, I was starting to think more in an international way, how can we influence the energy system on a global level. So being at Student Energy Summit in Indonesia really gave me perspectives from all around the world and really seeing that the energy system is much broader and you have to work with it on a global level.” – Emma Wiesner

“Diversity in education, gender, language, location, origin, culture and nationality will be a very big advantage to any initiative. In my case, my finance background was helpful in sourcing and managing funds, but every colleague in the initiative plays a unique role” – Kakembo Galabuzi Brian

Learn more about WEYE Clean Energy Company and Brian’s story:
A snapshot into the social and environmental impact of the Waste to Energy Youth Project. Video by Kakmebo Galabuzi Brian.