As of 20th July 2026, the UK has a new Energy Secretary, alongside a new Prime Minister.
Taking over from Ed Miliband, our new ES Miatta Fahnbulleh has already caused quite the media frenzy; rising through the government ranks in an especially short space of time and coming from a background in “radical economics”, having served as the Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) from 2017 to 2023 and as Director of Policy and Research at the IPPR.
With an impressive CV and an equally impressive academic background – holding a PhD in Economic Development from the London School of Economics (LSE) – Fahnbulleh is an interesting choice for our next Energy Secretary, as Miliband moves away from the Energy sector and into the position of Foreign Secretary.
And just the day after her appointment saw Fahnbulleh speak on BBC Radio 4’s current affairs show ‘PM’ on all things energy security; mentioning her belief that achieving true energy security means focussing on domestic production, as well as acknowledging gas & oil as part of the energy mix.
But, since her appointment just days ago, there has been more than a little speculation around what Fahnbulleh stands for; what she believes will work for UK energy, and where she’s likely to take green policies.
But, what can we expect from Fahnbulleh as Energy Secretary and, perhaps more importantly, what does the renewable sector need from her?
Given her status as a “radical economist” and her professional and academic background, key expectations from Fahnbulleh include:
Commitment to Decarbonisation: Her background signals strong continuity with the government’s clean energy and Net Zero targets, including the mission to achieve clean power.
Navigating Fossil Fuel Pressures: She immediately faces high-stakes decisions regarding controversial North Sea oil and gas projects – such as Jackdaw and Rosebank – which were already underway and thus not subject to the blanket ban on new exploration licences. While she has previously campaigned against new exploration licences, she steps into a role where the administration balances long term Net Zero commitments with pragmatic considerations around the transition energy mix.
Economic and Social Justice Approach: Given her academic background in economic development and her think-tank leadership, her policy decisions are expected to heavily weigh the economic resilience, industrial strategy, and billpayer protection aspects of the energy transition.
But what does this mean in practice?
There’s already been a large amount of headline criticism of Fahnbulleh from the fossil fuel industry as, before she joined Parliament and back in 2023, NEF signed an open letter to the Labour government urging them to block the Rosebank oil and gas field.
Furthermore, Fahnbulleh stated in February 2022: “To have a shot at staying within 1.5C global warming, we can’t have any new oil or gas fields,” adding that it is irresponsible and shortsighted for banks to fund new fossil fuel projects.
What’s more, she has also expressed deep distrust regarding the intentions of major fossil fuel companies.
For example, in 2022, she endorsed social media commentary stating that trusting companies like BP to use their profits for the public good has “backfired again and again,” and that the tax system has encouraged obscene profits and the exploitation of resources while ordinary people faced severe cost-of-living pressures.
As such, whilst gas & oil companies are largely discouraged by Fahnbulleh’s appointment, clean & renewable energy companies are otherwise largely encouraged and, as a company responsible for managing a number of renewable energy projects currently either in the preconstruction, construction or commissioning phases, we for one hope the UK’s new Energy Secretary can help with the following bottlenecks and challenges currently threatening the sector:
The lack of a GGSS Successor: Fahnbulleh’s intimate DESNZ knowledge could prove one of her greatest strengths and, for the UK to achieve true long term energy security, we need to invest in anaerobic digestion. As such, we desperately need to know what comes after the Green Gas Support Scheme ends in March 2028; incentivising AD and ensuring we turn additional food waste streams into valuable biogas is one of the biggest assets we have available to us on this island we call home.
A clear route to market for captured carbon: Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage is currently incredibly expensive – not only implementing or retrofitting the technology itself – but also transporting and storing the carbon once captured and, for a lot of the carbon successfully captured, there’s no clear route to market; if we’re going to capture carbon, which we absolutely should be doing in order to reduce carbon emissions, we need to be able to sell it on to various industries for use, or at least make it financially viable. Although current government incentives exist, they aren’t nearly enough to cover the very real cost of technological implementation.
Grid infrastructure upgrades and connection reform: With network operators rolling out multi-billion-pound capital plans for the 2026–2031 period, we need urgent, decisive execution on transmission maintenance and local distribution upgrades to prevent clean energy curtailment. While Ofgem’s queue-reform and new connection regime are beginning to weed out speculative logjams, developers still require absolute accountability and accelerated timelines from network operators to ensure shovel-ready renewable and storage projects aren’t stranded by sluggish grid access.
Decoupling gas from oil/wholesale electricity prices: Finally, we need a decisive policy push to fundamentally decouple gas pricing from the wholesale price of oil and electricity. Because consumer and industrial bills remain dangerously vulnerable to global fossil fuel shocks, market reform is vital to ensure that the cost benefits of cheaper, homegrown British renewable generation are actually passed down to billpayers rather than artificially inflated by legacy pricing models.
Miatta Fahnbulleh is entirely right that the UK’s long-term, viable energy security stems from domestic production and a balanced energy mix.
However, turning that vision into reality requires the government to match its rhetoric with concrete, decisive action; for the renewable energy sector, success depends on moving past policy gridlock – delivering a successor to the GGSS, establishing a viable market for captured carbon, accelerating grid upgrades and connection reform, and decoupling consumer prices from volatile global fossil fuel markets.
