The global energy transition is no longer theoretical. It is underway, reshaping markets, redirecting investment flows, and redefining national priorities. What remains unsettled is how we manage the land and mobilise the capital that this transition requires. Energy infrastructure, whether solar fields, wind farms or transmission corridors, demands land. So too does the scaling of nature based solutions, sustainable agriculture and regenerative economies. Without clear governance, fair access, and robust financing mechanisms, these ambitions will stall.

At the 2025 World Bank Land Conference, this reality came into sharp focus. The theme, Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action: Moving from Awareness to Action, highlighted the urgent need to turn ambition into delivery. Over four days in Washington, D.C., experts from across sectors explored how land systems underpin every major transition we face: in climate, in energy, in food, and in equity.

A session on “How Land Systems Create Jobs and Unlock the Future of Energy” reinforced what many of us working in natural capital already understand: that without secure and equitable access to land, our ambitions for clean energy and climate resilience will stall. Secure tenure unlocks investment, reduces risk, and gives local communities the footing they need to participate in economic transformation.

Yet land governance and sustainable management cannot be left to governments alone. From Palladium’s work with Partnerships for Forests (P4F), we’ve seen how catalytic private capital can be when aligned with community and businesses incentives, and local environmental priorities. In P4F, a £65M programme mobilized over £1.4B. Too often, we wait for public systems to fix structural challenges before inviting the private sector in. But waiting is a luxury we no longer have and, with the right approach, vastly more resources can be leveraged to drive change.

The conference highlighted promising approaches, such as innovative financing tools to fund land registration and administration through small transaction fees or blended capital. Countries like Ethiopia and Colombia are moving partially forward, but replication will require risk-tolerant investors and stronger public-private platforms.

Looking ahead, we must be clear-eyed about what’s needed. The energy transition demands land, not just space, but the right systems to govern, access, and use it fairly and efficiently. That means securing land rights, integrating private capital, and building collaborative frameworks that include all stakeholders. Investors, agribusinesses, and renewable energy developers all have a role to play, but they must come to the table early, alongside Indigenous leaders, farmers, and local governments.

This is no longer a theoretical exercise. The infrastructure is being built. The transition is happening. What we do now will determine whether it delivers inclusive, sustainable growth or deepens inequality and ecological strain. If we get it right, land becomes the platform for prosperity and resilience. If we fail, it becomes the bottleneck. The choice is ours to make.

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Luis Rios is the Director of Natural Capital LatAm at Palladium