The recent passing in the UK of the Great British Energy Act 2025 formally established Great British Energy (GB Energy). The new publicly owned company has been endowed with £8.3 billion ($11.2 billion) in public capital to be spent over the remaining four or so years of the current parliament. This funding has been earmarked for domestic investments in clean power projects to accelerate the UK’s energy transition and progress toward the legally binding net-zero targets. But could GB Energy have an equally significant impact on the UK’s position on the global stage?
The UK parliament passed the Great British Energy Act 2025 on May 15. This honored a Labour Party manifesto commitment to establish a publicly owned energy company — GB Energy. Although the passing of the legislation was in some sense a formality, given the government’s large majority, it was a landmark moment both in the UK, where it will help with the drive toward national energy targets — aligning with the aims of the UK government’s modern industrial strategy and infrastructure strategy — and internationally, where the impact on the UK’s standing within the ever-shifting dynamics of the global energy transition could be hugely significant.
