Abstract Oscillatory behavior of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is thought to underlie Atlantic multidecadal climate variability. While the energy sources and sinks driving the mean MOC have received intense scrutiny over the last decade, the governing energetics of the modes of variability of the MOC have not been addressed to the same degree. This paper examines the energy conversion processes associated with this variability in an idealized North Atlantic Ocean model. In this model, the multidecadal variability arises through an instability associated with a so-called thermal Rossby mode, which involves westward propagation of temperature anomalies. Applying the available potential energy (APE) framework from stratified turbulence to the idealized ocean model simulations, the authors study the multidecadal variability from an energetics viewpoint. The analysis explains how the propagation of the temperature anomalies leads to changes in APE, which are subsequently converted into the kinetic energy changes associated with variations in the MOC. Thus, changes in the rate of generation of APE by surface buoyancy forcing provide the kinetic energy to sustain the multidecadal mode of variability.