Energy
4 mins

Reclaiming British Energy: The Stories That Will Win the Net Zero Debate in 2025

Published on
August 21, 2025
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Reclaiming British Energy: The Stories That Will Win the Net Zero Debate in 2025

The UK is at a crossroads. On one side, a new national energy champion in Great British Energy backed by £8.3bn of funding promises to turn-on homegrown power, thousands of jobs, and a clean-energy economy built in Britain. 

On the other side, well-funded opposition forces are working overtime to distort, delay, and derail that transition.

After policy skirmishes, and technology battles, we’re now facing a narrative war. And the renewable sector risks losing ground if we don’t sharpen the stories we tell.

We’ve recently become a member of RenewableUK because we believe communication is a critical - and too often overlooked - lever in the race to net zero.

Following our attendance at the recent RenewableUK Communications Forum, we reflect on how renewable energy marketing must evolve 2025. 

This is what we took away: and why it matters.

The Messaging Gap: Why Net Zero Facts Alone Don’t Cut It

One of the clearest takeaways from the RenewableUK session was this: voters aren’t moved by abstract climate targets or policy detail. They’re moved by stories of lower bills, secure jobs, national pride, and independence from volatile fossil markets.

That resonates with what we know from behavioural science. People are far more motivated by the threat of loss than by the promise of gain. It’s not enough to talk about net zero as a future win. We need to frame renewables as a shield against the risks people already feel: rising costs, geopolitical shocks, and the injustice of paying more while fossil fuel giants rake in profits.

This is why anti-renewable messaging, even when technically wrong, often sticks: it uses emotion and identity more effectively than the fact sheets and ROI calculations our sector tends to lean on.

Reclaiming ‘British Energy’

Reframing how we talk about green energy produced in the UK is vital. Because the data shows public support for renewables is broad - nearly two-thirds of even Reform voters back clean energy (Friends of the Earth, 2025) - but it’s also shallow. Although overall the public is pro–net zero, 69% believe the transition will negatively impact their living expenses (DESNZ, 2023).

This leaves the path clear for even small factions of sceptics to cause a splash through weaponising misinformation and stoking doubt. 

Small language inflections could make all the difference. 

For example, the phrase British Energy is a powerful one. It evokes a story of ownership, security, and pride. It reframes renewables not as a moral obligation, but as a patriotic project to turn British innovation - and the natural resources that proliferate our island - into the energy that keeps our homes warm, our businesses competitive, and our country independent. 

To hold the ground we’ve gained, we need a narrative that people instinctively defend because it feels like it belongs to them.

Matching Stories to Market Reality

But even the best story will miss the mark if it doesn’t align with where the market really is. That’s where the Net Zero Tech Curve comes in: our model that maps clean technologies against market maturity, buyer adoption, and sentiment. 

The reality? Eighty-five percent of net zero solutions aren’t yet in the mainstream. They sit in phases of hype, scepticism, or early adoption. Which means most audiences aren’t ready for the hard sell. They need reassurance, proof, and education before they commit.

Reclaiming British Energy, then, cannot be about pushing a one-size-fits-all narrative, but rather, using the national story as an umbrella, while tailoring sub-sector messages to fit their market stage:

  • For sceptical markets like ground source heat pumps (GSHPs): focus on proof, case studies, and de-risking.

  • For emerging innovations like smart sockets: build excitement and credibility.

  • For mainstream solutions like solar: compete on delivery, service, and added value.

If we overshoot the market, we lose credibility. The Tech Curve ensures we meet people where they are.

United, Not Undone

There’s another challenge we can’t ignore: division. The irony is that the data is on our side: the UK’s green economy generates £1.89 of wider economic value for every £1 it produces. Yet instead of uniting around this prosperity story, our sector too often undermines itself by pitting technologies against each other: wind vs. solar, GSHPs vs. air source heat pumps. This rivalry doesn’t help anyone. It hands the fossil fuel lobby exactly what it wants: a fragmented sector too busy bickering to mount a unified response. 

The real competition sits not between clean technologies, but between a sustainable future and the fossil fuel incumbents that profit from delay.

To reclaim the narrative, we must tell stories of collaboration - not conflict. Stories that celebrate British leadership across the energy mix. Stories that show renewables as a single, unstoppable industry of growth, jobs, and national resilience.

Fighting the Narrative War - and Winning

Big Oil allies have outspent clean energy groups 27 to 1 in ads and lobbying (ANU, 2023). And here in the UK, investigations by DeSmog show that since 2019, Reform has received £2.3 million - equivalent to 92% of its total funding - from oil and gas interests, high-polluters, and climate‑science deniers.

That’s the scale of the challenge. But here’s the good news: the UK’s net zero economy grew by 10% in just one year (2023–24). And public sentiment - even two-thirds of Reform voters backing renewables - shows the ground is ours to hold. We can win the narrative war, but only if we fight with the right story-telling weapons: 

Such as:

  • Anchoring benefits in daily life. Lower bills. Warmer homes. Independence from volatile markets.

  • Framing renewables as protection. Against loss, against insecurity, against being left behind as a nation.

  • Telling unified, emotionally resonant stories. Not fractured, technical, or niche narratives.

Because in the end, people rally around stories that speak to their pride, their safety, and their sense of fairness. And they are moved more by protecting what they have - homes, bills, independence - than abstract future benefits. 

The Opportunity Ahead

Reclaiming British Energy is perhaps the biggest communications project of a generation. Done right, it could deliver trust, unity, and momentum at a moment when the net zero transition is under siege.

The UK is already halfway to net zero: nearly 50% of our electricity now comes from renewables, up from just 7% in 2010. We stand as a global leader in offshore wind, delivering around 20% of global capacity and deploying 11.3 GW today, with potential to more than double by the mid-2020s. 

And here’s the truth: we’ve stepped too far into the clean energy transition to wade back now. As Shakespeare had Macbeth admit, turning back would be just as hard as pressing forward. For Britain, the only real choice is to go on - faster - and claim the jobs, energy security, and global leadership that net zero offers.

The best thing we can do? Tell the stories that make this transition feel British, beneficial, and ours to win.

Our RenewableUK membership is our agency’s commitment to deeper collaboration, shared advocacy, and unified messaging across the sector.

That’s how we win the Net Zero debate. With stories powerful enough to shift hearts, minds - and then markets.

We’re a brand and content agency built for the energy transition: helping renewable and climate tech companies communicate with clarity and commercial impact.

Get in touch with our team for more information about our work.