Great British Energy (GBE), the UK’s recently established publicly owned energy investment company, today released its inaugural strategic plan, outlining ambitious goals to deliver 15 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity and support at least 10,000 jobs over the next five years. The new strategy, published on Thursday, emphasises investments in areas historically reliant on oil and gas, aiming to reframe the transition to green energy as a significant economic opportunity rather than a burden.
Established by the Great British Energy Act 2025 and backed by £8.3 billion in government funding, GBE’s mandate is to accelerate the UK’s shift to clean power, co-investing with the private sector to develop and own clean energy and storage projects. The organisation projects that its public investments will catalyse an additional £15 billion in private finance by 2030, contributing to the UK’s target of achieving 95% low-carbon electricity generation by the same year and a fully decarbonised power system by 2035.
However, GBE’s job creation targets are set against a backdrop of significant employment contraction in the traditional fossil fuel sectors. A study by Robert Gordon University (RGU), titled “Striking the Balance – Building a Sustainable UK Offshore Energy Workforce” and published in June 2025, cautioned that the UK could lose tens of thousands of offshore energy jobs by 2030 without immediate, coordinated intervention. The RGU report indicated that, under scenarios of slower transition, the North Sea oil and gas workforce could see approximately 400 jobs disappear every two weeks for the next five years, a rate comparable to the continuous closure of the Grangemouth refinery. This forecast estimates a decline in oil and gas employment from 115,000 in 2024 to between 57,000 and 71,000 by the early 2030s, highlighting a substantial gap that GBE’s projected 10,000 new jobs aim to address.
A central commitment from the Labour Party during the 2024 general election was to base GBE’s headquarters in Aberdeen, a city historically at the heart of the UK’s oil and gas industry. While the strategic plan reiterates that Aberdeen will serve as GBE’s “corporate backbone” and host the “majority” of its employees, the physical presence in the city remains minimal. As of last month, only 15 staff members were based in Aberdeen, with premises yet to be formally secured.
Dan McGrail, Chief Executive of Great British Energy, who was appointed permanent CEO in July 2025 and is based in Aberdeen, expressed confidence in the company’s direction. “We are proud to be putting public ownership to work, unlocking investment, powering communities, creating jobs, and building an energy system that delivers for the UK,” McGrail stated. He added, “This Strategic Plan marks a major milestone in our mission to accelerate clean energy and the industries that support it.”
The strategic plan for the next five years details GBE’s three priority investment areas: GBE Local, Onshore Energy, and Offshore Energy. It includes plans for a “toolkit” to encourage greater community ownership of renewable projects, aiming to support 1,000 local jobs through expanded public participation. The plan also envisions using public land for new wind and solar projects, generating income that can be reinvested into local communities.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband previously articulated the broader vision for GBE, he said: “This plan shows what a publicly-owned energy company will deliver: an abundance of clean, homegrown energy for British people and thousands of good jobs across the country.” The government has set a target for GBE to generate returns on its commercial activities by 2030 and to develop a plan for self-financing, with profits being reinvested to further the clean energy transition.
The transition to a low-carbon economy is a critical national endeavour, with the government aiming to at least double annual investment across clean energy industries to over £30 billion by 2035. However, the challenges of modernising grid infrastructure and streamlining planning processes remain, as up to £40 billion of annual investment in clean energy infrastructure is reportedly awaiting connection.
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