The real lesson of the Iran war energy crisis – learn from the last one.

Adam Berman | 31st March 2026 | Comment, Trade Associations

As war in Iran shocks global oil prices, trade bodies argue that the UK should recognise the importance of renewable energy sources - and begin investing in them.

The world is once again in the midst of an international energy crisis. No one knows when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen, or how much damage critical energy infrastructure will have sustained by the end of this conflict. But what we do know is that we’ve been here before.

Only four years ago, the UK Government spent an astonishing £44 billion supporting homes and businesses from the worst effects of an energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 2022/2023 energy crisis has cast a long shadow over the UK. The full economic impact is hard to quantify, but it was almost certainly in the hundreds of billions once we consider the effects of increased energy costs, inflation, and interest rates.

The conflict today bears little resemblance to 2022 – a different continent, different geopolitics, and very different impacts on energy markets. But for a country like the UK, the similarity between these two events is striking. For the second time this decade, the UK is feeling the effects of massive volatility in international energy markets over which we have little control.

The public conversation about the crisis in the Middle East has focussed on many of the same topics as was discussed in 2022. Why are we so exposed to global prices? How quickly can we change this? Will the Government step in to subsidise energy bills if they get too high? All reasonable …

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