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Despite technically thriving, incoherent policy in the UK has been listed as a top concern for energy firms.
According to a survey from the Energy Industries Council (EIC), 77% of local respondents in the UK cited incoherent policy as their top concern despite significant business growth.
According to the trade association in their report, Survive and Thrive, the executives surveyed describe a sector succeeding despite the government, not because of it.
Nearly 28% of respondents criticised UK policy ‘short-termism’ that prioritises electoral wins over energy security.
According to the report, delays in project approvals also emerged as a critical concern, as they stifle innovation and complicate the timely execution of energy projects.
Approximately 8% of respondents cited these delays as a significant barrier to progress, leading to frustrations that ripple throughout the supply chain
Commenting in a release was Stuart Broadley, EIC’s Chief Executive Officer: “The UK’s supply chain is delivering growth, but it’s doing so despite policy chaos.
“Without a 20-year vision, we risk losing talent and investment to markets like the Middle East.”
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Continued fossil fuel reliance
According to the EIC, 57% (down from the prior year’s 60%) of UK supply chain revenues still come from oil and gas, including upstream, midstream, LNG, downstream, and decommissioning.
The EIC in a release cites negative signals for the renewables sector and policy mechanisms such as the windfall tax, which they say ‘destabilises the very engine financing its net-zero ambitions’.
Additionally, says the EIC, 42% of firms cite fiscal uncertainty (like the windfall tax).
Workforce issues are also pertinent in the survey’s results, with 25% highlighting recruitment and retention challenges as skilled workers eye exits. According to the EIC, this boils down to instability stemming from inconsistent energy policies.
Said Broadley: “Optimism about 2025 growth is high – 87% of UK firms forecast it – but targets are fragile. If policy instability continues, we’ll see cost-cutting and job losses by year-end.
“The UK needs a joined-up energy plan incorporating grid, oil, gas, renewables, and skills. Regions with stable policies are magnets. Uncertainty is an export.”
Global growth and investment trends
By region, says the survey, companies in the Americas grew by an average of 20%, while those in Continental Europe reached 13% and Asia Pacific just 8%—all trailing well behind the Middle East’s 68% surge.
Across the global energy firms surveyed, 77% reported growth and an average surge of 24% in revenue. However, adds the EIC, that momentum came with blind spots.
Only 6% of companies, across all regions, pursued new export markets and 91% of firms stayed focused on oil and gas.
According to the survey, there is also a noted reduction globally in companies reporting success from energy transition projects, with energy transition revenues, including from hydrogen, carbon capture, floating offshore wind and nuclear SMRs) dropping from 9% to 6%.
Digital strategies also fell short: 60% used AI, but just 9% linked it to growth. EIC links this to uncertainty surrounding its long-term viability, which poses significant hesitation on fully committing to digital transformation.
On grid investments, the report says that, as selected regions progressed faster into renewables power in 2024, with consequential intermittency impacts on their electrical grids, those regions were seen investing the most in new power and grid infrastructure, namely Europe, UK and the Middle East.
The report also notes that, as its research was done in the first half of 2025, data centres were still not driving grid investments to a great degree in the Americas, although they expect this to change in the 2026.
The Survive & Thrive report is based on interviews with 140 global energy firms, with 50% – the significant majority – coming from the UK and Ireland, 18% from the Middle East, Africa and CIS, 16% from the Americas, 12% from Continental Europe, and 6% from Asia Pacific.
