Is this correct?

I believe the person was referring to vacuum energy. Vacuum energy is an underlying background energy that exists in space even when devoid of matter (known as free space).

The vacuum energy results in the existence of most (if not all) of the fundamental forces - and thus in all effects involving these forces, too.

It is observed in various experiments (like the spontaneous emission of light or gamma radiation, the Casimir effect, Van-Der Waals bonds, the Lamb shift, etc); and it is thought (but not yet demonstrated) to have consequences for the behavior of the Universe on cosmological scales.