Why Capacity-Building and Innovation Should Lead the Conversation at COP30 and Beyond

Every COP is a moment of global focus, and a litmus test: It reveals not just what the world values, but what it’s ready to act on. Formally known as the Conference of the Parties, the United Nations’ flagship climate summit brings together nearly 200 nations for two weeks each year to negotiate, establish priorities, and report progress. 

After three consecutive years in the Middle East and the surrounding region, COP30’s move to Brazil — the first ever held in the Amazon —  represents a pivot to the frontlines of climate resilience and biodiversity, elevating issues such as land use, climate finance, and a just transition.

Two of the most consequential topics on the COP30 energy agenda — capacity-building and innovation — signal a shift from setting ambitious goals to tackling the mechanics of execution.

As Mitsubishi Power Americas President and CEO Bill Newsom recently told The Wall Street Journal  , capturing the energy sector’s urgency, “We need to figure out how to ramp up quicker.” That challenge is especially relevant for power generation OEMs, who play a central role in modernizing infrastructure to support industrial expansion, electrification, and economic growth.

COP30 offers a rare platform as one of the few places where energy executives, climate scientists, NGOs, and heads of state share the same stage and the same stakes. COP and the industry events that follow, namely CERAWeek, set the tone for investments and business decisions that will shape the global energy landscape in the months and years ahead. These conferences are the moments when a cross-section of stakeholders come together, but the conversation cannot end when the meetings do. 

Stakeholders across the energy sector, including utilities, OEMs, and policymakers, must maintain focus on energy infrastructure investment needs and the urgency of reliable, scalable power generation solutions.

Capacity-Building in Powering Energy’s Next Wave 

For years, capacity-building under the UN framework has focused on helping countries respond to climate and energy challenges, which have historically included technology development, access to climate finance, and public awareness. That definition must expand to include grid resilience, dispatchable capacity, and the manufacturing capability required to deliver power at scale.

Governments, utilities, and OEMs share responsibility for designing the physical infrastructure that keeps electricity reliable while expanding power generation to meet demand. Global power demand, driven by industrial expansion, electrification, and digitalization, continues to push energy systems to their limits. According to the IEA’s Future of Electricity in the MENA Region report, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is projected to add the equivalent of Germany and Spain’s total power demand by 2035. And efficiency improvements alone will not offset that demand growth. 

“The reality is, nearly everything we do depends on electricity,” says Newsom. “For the past two decades, the energy sector has focused on efficiency improvements, integrating renewables, and doing more with less. Today, that challenge has shifted. Our lives demand more power, whether it's computing, banking, or electric vehicles. We have entered a more-is-more era, and right now, we need more electricity than ever before.”

The next chapter of energy will belong to the builders, the ones turning policy ambition into physical capacity.

Strengthening the Foundation of the Global Energy System

True capacity-building depends on building faster and smarter. In the United States, companies like Mitsubishi Power are investing in new and expanded manufacturing facilities, underscoring how industrial growth and energy infrastructure must advance together.

Emerging markets  and fast-developing economies face similar challenges. Vietnam’s energy strategy, for example, calls for the construction of at least 22 gas-fired power projects by 2030, building upon its existing efforts to achieve near-universal access to electricity that was previously fueled by coal, according to Bloomberg. Other nations must take similar actions, aligning manufacturing policy, grid planning, and energy supply.

Sustainable growth, however, goes beyond new infrastructure. It includes expanding production lines and materials capabilities at existing factories, strengthening supply chains amid trade and logistics challenges, and investing in employees through workforce training, technical education, and regional upskilling. Capacity-building is as much an economic imperative as it is an energy one — creating jobs and advancing industrial growth that can be sustained into the future of the entire value chain.

“The choices we make about infrastructure, technology, and investment today will define the world’s energy resilience for decades to come,” says Don Daniels, Chief Strategy Officer at Mitsubishi Power. “Long-term success depends on strategies that can scale with demand, evolve with technology, and endure through uncertainty.”

Innovation in Power Generation: Automation, Modular Design, and Digitalization

To meet the pace of global demand, innovation isn’t just an aspiration. It’s the catalyst for accelerating capacity-building.

Factory automation drives capacity by reducing lead times and improving consistency. Modular and hybrid systems accelerate integration with renewables, allowing both reliability and lower emissions. Digitalization enables predictive maintenance and asset optimization — with some studies such as one in the Engineering and Technology Journal showing that AI applications can enhance maintenance schedules by 20 to 40% and cut operating costs by up to 15%.

Digitalization also extends beyond artificial intelligence. Mitsubishi Power’s TOMONI® intelligent digital solutions integrate sensors, digital twins, and analytics to continuously monitor plant performance and optimize operations. These technologies improve availability, extend asset life, and enhance reliability across entire fleets.

Together, innovations and technologies like these allow countries to build faster, operate smarter, and maintain reliability. Proven technologies such as gas turbines and combined-cycle power plants will remain central to grid stability as electrification advances in the immediate future and coming decades, both in the U.S. and globally. Integrating carbon capture systems or hydrogen-ready turbines will provide a crucial path toward cleaner power in the future. 

Where OEMs Should Lead

OEMs sit at the center of this transformation. Their job is to turn commitments into capacity.

Working with Georgia Power, Mitsubishi Power successfully completed a 50% hydrogen-natural gas fuel blend validation on an M501GAC gas turbine at Plant McDonough-Atkinson. This is the first advanced-class turbine demonstration globally to validate a 50% hydrogen blend, reducing CO₂ emissions by approximately 22%. 

Power generation OEMs are also ensuring the workforce is prepared to strengthen local capacity. For instance, Mitsubishi Power is investing in the next generation of talent, adding approximately 600 manufacturing, field technician, and engineering positions over the next three years. This next generation of the power sector will collaborate across disciplines early in their careers, gaining experience that allows them to learn, teach others, lead, and innovate.

OEM impact also multiplies when innovation meets global collaboration. Mitsubishi Power shares best practices across regions and leverages proven technology to accelerate deployment, with its J Series gas turbines achieving more than 2.7 million commercial operating hours worldwide. The T-Point 2 facility in Japan serves as a model for technology performance verification. And global influence isn’t slowing down. In fact, Saudi Arabia recently became the third country, (after Japan and the U.S.), to assemble JAC gas turbines locally. In Thailand, Mitsubishi Power Asia completed construction of the eighth and final M701JAC unit of a 5,300 MW natural gas-fired power plant project.

Beyond delivering technology, OEMs like Mitsubishi Power are redefining how the world meets its growing demand for energy. Through innovation, workforce development, and cross-regional collaboration, they’re building energy systems that can scale with progress — everywhere.

The Measure of Progress

For energy companies, COP30 will only make a lasting impact if it shifts the focus from policy commitments to the discipline of execution, where capacity-building and innovation are judged by what gets built. OEMs, governments, and utilities now face a shared challenge: transforming climate ambition into industrial strategy. 

“We have a commitment to society,” says Newsom, “to make sure we can help power innovation needs and economic growth.” 

The work ahead goes beyond any single conference or conversation. The real measure of progress is how the world keeps building, linking innovation with implementation, and ensuring technology, talent, and infrastructure move forward together.