Let me open with an honest admission: in many of the forums I attend, when people talk about energy, the conversation usually revolves around numbers, investment, and risk. But one day I was invited to speak before the cadres and officers of KOHATI Aceh, the young women of HMI Aceh, in Lhokseumawe. When the invitation came, I was in Pekanbaru, and I decided to head straight to Lhokseumawe because the topic felt too important to skip. That day I realized we weren't talking about numbers at all. We were talking about the future, about civilization, and about justice. Because in the end, energy isn't only about what we produce, but about who actually feels its benefits.
The World Isn't Ready, But It Has to Move Anyway
Today the world is moving toward the Net Zero Emissions target. But we need to look honestly at the reality: according to the International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2024, fossil fuels still meet around 80 percent of the world's energy needs, while global investment in clean energy in 2024 is estimated at around USD 2 trillion, nearly double the investment in fossil energy that same year.1 The transition is underway, but it isn't fast enough yet, and it isn't even.
That means the energy transition isn't simply a matter of idealism. It's a matter of strategy, stability, and economic sustainability. If we move too fast, we risk creating an energy crisis. If we move too slowly, we risk accelerating environmental damage. It's at this balance point that natural gas plays its role as a bridge energy, a bridge toward a cleaner energy system, not the final destination, but also not something we can simply abandon.
Aceh Once Lit Up the World. Has It Lit Up Itself?
Aceh is no ordinary territory in the history of energy. From Arun, liquefied natural gas once flowed to every corner of the world. Aceh once stood as one of the world's energy hubs. But today we have to ask ourselves honestly: has that energy been enough to light up its own people?
We're not short on resources. Aceh has natural gas, hydro potential, solar energy, and biomass from its agricultural sector. The rural electrification program in PLN Aceh's own distribution area was recorded as 100 percent complete in Q4 2024, in line with the national electrification ratio, which now stands above 99 percent.2 But that figure only speaks to how far the cables reach, not yet to the quality and reliability of the supply. Villages still face limits on productive energy, and downstream energy industry development is still weak.
So our problem isn't resources. The problem lies in governance, the direction of development, and where policy takes sides. This is exactly where we need a paradigm shift: from exploitation to sustainability, from extraction to empowerment, from centralized to community-based. And a paradigm shift like this will never happen without new leadership.
Why the Energy Sector Needs More Women
There's long been a strong stigma that the energy sector is a man's world, tough, field-based, physically demanding. Yet the energy industry has changed fundamentally. What the industry needs today isn't just field labor, but data analysts, risk managers, ESG specialists, policymakers, and social strategy designers. According to a recent gender report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), women make up only about 32 percent of the total full-time workforce in the global renewable energy sector, a figure that has barely moved since IRENA first measured it several years earlier. More strikingly, at senior leadership level, the share of women is only around 19 percent.3 Yet this is the sector of the future, and the boardroom is exactly where the real direction of policy gets decided.
The measure of a successful energy company today isn't just profit, but also environmental impact, social impact, and the quality of governance we know as ESG. And this is exactly where women have a natural edge: women don't just see the system, they see the impact, they see the people behind every policy.
Here's a simple example. When energy reaches a village, men might see economic productivity. Women see clean water, family health, and their children's education. When an energy crisis hits, women are often the first to feel its impact, but also the first to adapt. This is a strength that's rarely counted in energy policy.
From Symbol to Policy Architect
Aceh has a long history of women's leadership. We know Cut Nyak Dien and Laksamana Malahayati, who were not only symbols of courage but also symbols of a changed direction in the struggle. Today our challenge is no longer physical war, but a war of ideas, a war of policy, a war over the direction of development. And the enemy has changed shape too: poverty, ignorance, energy scarcity, and developmental lag are the new forms of colonization confronting Aceh today. If Aceh's Srikandi once fought colonizers with the rencong and battle strategy, today KOHATI's cadres and its younger generation are called to fight this new form of colonization with data, policy, and the courage to take a stand.
Aceh's women's leadership today needs to level up: from symbol to decision-maker, from participant to direction-setter, from complement to policy architect. Various governance studies also show that gender-inclusive policy tends to be more effective, better targeted, and more sustainable. So it's time for women not only to be present in the field, but present in the boardroom, at the policy table, at the center of decision-making.
Closing
Sustainable energy will never come about without an inclusive society. And an inclusive society is impossible without women in it as decision-makers, not merely as beneficiaries.
The message I left with KOHATI Aceh's cadres that day is one I still hold on to: don't just be someone who enjoys the light. Be someone brave enough to decide where that light comes from, and for whom it's given.
Data sources:
1. International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Outlook 2024 dan World Energy Investment 2024.
2. Kementerian ESDM / Ditjen Ketenagalistrikan & PLN, data rasio elektrifikasi dan capaian listrik pedesaan triwulan IV 2024.
3. International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Renewable Energy: A Gender Perspective, laporan terbaru.
Leave a Reply