2026 CEM Senior Officials’ Meeting Key Takeaways

The annual CEM Senior Officials’ Meeting was held in Brussels, Belgium on 3-5 June. Hosted by the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy, the event brought together nearly 300 participants from more than 25 countries along with many partner organisations to discuss member priorities, workstream outcomes for the coming year, and pave the way for CEM17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this year.

The meeting provided an opportunity to convene members and partners in person and advance key CEM strategic priorities for 2026. Here are a few takeaways:

We now have a strong vision for CEM17, a key moment of the year for the Clean Energy Ministerial.

Our CEM17 hosts presented their vision for the Ministerial under the theme Inspiring Transformations to Deliver Regional Transitions. CEM17 will be a seminal moment to showcase the CEM’s value as a platform for delivery and deployment, highlight regional approaches to the energy transition, and reflect the diversity of the CEM work programme. It will also spotlight concrete examples of CEM workstream implementation that are advancing member priorities and elevating these outcomes to Ministerial attention.

From strategic priorities to implementation, members reinforced the CEM’s role as a catalyst for collective action.

Members reaffirmed the value of the CEM as a member-driven platform that translates strategic priorities into practical collaboration and tangible outcomes. Delegates reflected on how engagement across the CEM’s diverse work programme supports both domestic and international energy objectives, while creating opportunities to share lessons learned across regions and sectors. Discussions also highlighted the importance of maintaining a flexible and responsive approach that evolves alongside emerging energy priorities.

On private sector engagement, delegates recognised that business and industry bring essential expertise and investment needed to accelerate the clean energy transition. Members highlighted examples of successful public-private collaboration already taking place across CEM workstreams and explored how these models could be replicated more broadly. Delegates also reflected that deeper engagement with private-sector partners will be critical to maximising impact and strengthening the CEM’s role as a platform that brings together governments, industry, and other stakeholders to advance shared energy goals.

Spotlight sessions highlighted the need for stronger sectoral collaboration across CEM workstreams.

The first of their kind sectoral spotlight sessions built bridges across traditional silos within the CEM by convening workstreams working on transport, empowering society, energy efficiency, and power in a single, coordinated format. The discussions created new opportunities to strengthen collaboration across initiatives that usually operate in parallel, and highlighted how closer coordination can unlock new ideas, reinforce ongoing efforts, and accelerate progress towards shared energy goals.

The transport session convened CEM members and partners from the Electric Vehicle Initiative, Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative, ISGAN, Biofuture Platform Initiative, and Hydrogen Initiative to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with accelerating clean transport. Discussions highlighted the value of bringing together expertise from across the transport and energy sectors and concluded with a proposal for a potential new CEM campaign on transport decarbonisation, which could be launched at CEM17.

The empowering society session brought together member countries alongside leaders from the CEM Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative, the Empowering People Initiative, and the Sustainable Lifestyles Campaign, with the aim for participants to discuss the strategic value of coordinating these efforts under an “Empowering Society” narrative that builds upon the existing work already underway. Members emphasised that this approach could deliver practical, action-oriented tools while engaging a broader coalition of like-minded countries and partners. Work will now continue to shape this potential deliverable for launch at CEM17.

The energy efficiency spotlight session convened the SEAD Initiative, the Sustainable Lifestyles Campaign, and a broad range of members and partners to explore how the CEM can be better leveraged to advance members’ energy efficiency priorities. The session concluded with the discussion on a potential new CEM campaign on accelerating deployment of energy efficient air conditioners, adding to the CEM’s portfolio of energy efficiency work.

The power sector investment session convened members and partners alongside leaders from ISGAN, 21CPP, ERAD, Supercharging Energy Storage, NICE Future Initiative, and GeoFuture Initiative to discuss how CEM can help strengthen the enabling environment for investment in power infrastructure. The session fostered new partnerships and reinforced existing collaborations across the CEM power community. Insights from the discussion will help shape the Ministerial Executive Brief, Scaling Investment in Global Power Infrastructure, to be published jointly by the CEM and the World Economic Forum at CEM17.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the European Commission for hosting this year’s Senior Officials’ Meeting, and to the entire CEM community for bringing their energy and engagement to Brussels. Their contributions have helped shape a clear and shared direction for CEM17 and the year ahead.